27195: (news) Chamberlain: UN commander in Haiti committed suicide - Brazil (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Posted by Chamberlain

     BRASILIA, Brazil, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The Brazilian head of the U.N.
peacekeeping force in Haiti, found shot to death over the weekend,
committed suicide, police said on Wednesday.
     Lt. Gen. Urano Bacellar died from a gunshot fired into his mouth and
had gunpowder on one hand, Brasilia police chief Laerte Bessa said, citing
autopsy results.
     "We concluded it was suicide," Bessa told Globo television.
     Bacellar had commanded the 9,000-strong U.N. force in Haiti since the
end of August. His body was found on Saturday in his hotel room in the
capital Port-au-Prince.
     The general's body was to be buried in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday. In
the morning President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took part in a ceremony in
Brasilia in his honor.
     The United Nations favors appointing another Brazilian to head the
force.
     Brazil has suggested two people for the job, Gen. Jose Elito Carvalho
Siqueira, commander of Brazil's sixth military region, and Gen. Jeannot
Jansen da Silva Filho, deputy head of the army's logistics department.
     Haiti is struggling to organize its first presidential election since
an armed revolt ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
     Despite the U.N. presence, political violence and kidnappings have
been on the rise.