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Last Updated: Feb 18th, 2008 - 14:39:01 |
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - 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 organise 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 honourable 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.
PERSISTENT VIOLENCE
The U.N. mission, known by its acronym MINUSTAH, was sent to Haiti to keep the peace between supporters and foes of Aristide after the 2004 revolt.
But the country of 8.5 million people has continued to be afflicted by political violence and a wave of kidnappings has swept through Port-au-Prince despite the presence of the Brazilian-led U.N. troops and police.
The business sector, which vigorously opposed Aristide, and the interim government have called on the U.N. force to be more aggressive in taking on street gangs that control many of the sprawling slums in Port-au-Prince. Many of the gangs are seen as supporters of the exiled Aristide.
In contrast, civil and leftist groups in Brazil have criticised the U.N. force for being too aggressive in patrolling the slums. Dozens of civilians have been caught in the cross-fire during gunfights between U.N. troops and gangs.
U.N. mission head Juan Gabriel Valdes announced on Friday that U.N. troops would occupy the Cite Soleil slum, the capital's most dangerous ghetto, and warned that civilians could be harmed.
"We are going to intervene in the coming days. I think there'll be collateral damage but we have to impose our force, there is no other way," Valdes told a local radio station. His comments on collateral damage alarmed civic groups in Haiti.
Bacellar had opposed Valdes' plan for Cite Soleil, some U.N. officials said.
The presidential election was originally scheduled for November but has been put off repeatedly and now is expected to take place in February.
Haiti's interim authorities have blamed the U.N. mission and the Organisation of American States for the delays, a charge both organisations refute.
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