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UN commander in Haiti dies in apparent suicide
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-08 10:54 The commander of the United
Nations' peacekeeping force in Haiti was found dead in his hotel room on
Saturday after apparently shooting himself in the head, U.N. officials said.
Brazilian Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar's death comes as the
troubled Caribbean country struggles to organize its first presidential election
since a monthlong armed revolt ousted then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in
February 2004.
The general, 58, who had been in command of the 9,000-strong U.N. force in
Haiti since the end of August, appeared to have been alone in his suite at the
Montana hotel in the capital Port-au-Prince at the time of the shooting.
His gun was found near his body, which was dressed in shorts and a white
T-shirt, witnesses said.
"It is unfortunate and devastating to see such a good and honorable general
killed in such circumstances," Brazil's ambassador to Haiti, Paulo Cordeiro de
Andrade Pinto, told Reuters as he left the hotel.
The Brazilian army initially referred to the incident as a "firearm
accident." The army later released a statement saying the armed forces
"profoundly lamented" the death of the general, who was a career military
officer, and that it would cooperate with the police investigation.
The general's sister, Bartira Bacellar, told TV Band in his home state of Rio
Grande do Sul that the family was devastated. "We always accompanied his career,
for which he had lots of enthusiasm," she said.
Brazil was expected to send an air force aircraft to pick up his body on
Sunday.
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Annan was "shocked and
saddened" and that an investigation was under way.
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