WORLD BRIDGE BLOG

On August 19th, 2003, a bomb-laden cement truck exploded at the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, killing seventeen people and injuring many more. Among those killed in the attack was the UN Special Representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, a life-long humanitarian and diplomat who had spent his entire career within the UN system, grappling with its complexities, limits, and ethical challenges. His story is the subject of a powerful HBO documentary film, Sergio, which premiered last night at the National Press Club in an event sponsored by Refugees International, HBO, and the Brookings Institution.

The film wove between the day of the bombing as told by those who were there, and anecdotes from Sergio’s life, his accomplishments and the people he touched and inspired. His work with the UN took him to the most important crisis areas of the last half-century—from Sudan to Lebanon, from Kosovo to Mozambique. He believed passionately in the necessity of engaging with and understanding your enemies, and in Cambodia, he was the first and only UN Representative ever to hold talks with the Khmer Rouge-- a decision for which he received heavy criticism, but also one that made it possible for tens of thousands of Cambodian refugees to return home. As the UN Transitional Administrator in East Timor, he oversaw the transition of East Timor to independence and witnessed firsthand the intricate relationship between sovereignty and human dignity.

When Sergio was offered the post in Iraq, he was initially reluctant. Politically and ideologically, he was opposed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and, on a personal level he was engaged to be married and was looking forward to a quieter life in his home country of Brazil. Nevertheless, the high profile of the issue attracted him and he eventually accepted the position. During the months before he was killed, he made it his focus to help establish Iraqi sovereignty and to defend the UN’s role in the country as distinctly separate from U.S. ambitions.

Following the screening of the film, Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution, moderated a discussion with U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice; Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke; and Samantha Power who wrote the biography of Sergio Vieira de Mello on which the film is based.

The August 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad was a turning point for the UN mission in Iraq, both for the loss of leadership that accompanied Sergio Vieira de Mello’s death and in what Richard Holbrooke termed “a loss of innocence” that put the UN face-to-face with those who perceived it to be an accomplice to occupation. Said Holbrooke: “Life in Baghdad prior to August 19th was a life without suicide attacks.”  

Samantha Power, who now serves in the Obama Administration, described the critical turning point that Iraq finds itself in today: “Iraq needs a second chance to make a first impression. It is on the verge of stability and in the mist of a messy democracy.” UN involvement in the region continues to be key, and Richard Holbrooke made the case for continued U.S. support for the UN, saying, “We’re the UN’s founding member, its host, its strongest supporter and when we fail to sustain it, the worse elements in it only get stronger. It is a flawed organization but we are much better with it than without it.”

Sergio Vieria de Mello’s life—as well as his death—is a lens through which to examine the changing role of the international community in regional conflicts. The dilemmas that Sergio confronted during his long career with the UN are examples of the challenges and moral ambiguities inherent in the long struggle for peace.