UN confirms death of Haiti mission chief Annabi

13:56, 17 January 2010

UNITED NATIONS. January 17. KAZINFORM The U.N. mission chief in Haiti, Hedi Annabi of Tunisia, died in Tuesday's earthquake that devastated the country's capital, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Saturday; Kazinform refers to China Daily.

He was believed to be 65.

In a statement, Ban also confirmed the death of Annabi's deputy, Brazilian Luiz Carlos da Costa, and of the acting U.N. police commissioner in Haiti, Doug Coates of Canada.

Ban gave no details of how the bodies of the three men had been found, but the world body said earlier this week they were under the rubble of the Hotel Christopher, the U.N. headquarters in Port-au-Prince, and could be alive or dead.

Haitian President Rene Preval said on Wednesday that Annabi had died, but the United Nations said at the time it could not yet confirm that.

Annabi is the first U.N. mission chief to die in the line of duty since Sergio Vieira de Mello of Brazil was killed along with 14 other U.N. staff when a truck bomb exploded outside the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad in 2003; Kazinform cites China Daily.

See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version

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