Americas News
U.N. says Haiti peacekeeper chief killed himself
By DPA
Jan 12, 2006, 19:00 GMT

New York - The chief of the U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti who was found dead with a bullet wound to the head last weekend commmitted suicide, the United Nations said Thursday.

Brazilian General Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar, 57, commander of 9,000 U.N. troops since August 2005, was found Saturday at his hotel in the capital Port-au-Prince.

Speculation had centred on suicide, but the United Nations provided the first confirmation. No details were immediately available about his motives.

The general's body has been transferred to Brazil. At the start of his tenure, da Matta Bacellar took a tough stance against armed gangs and achieved a temporary improvement in the city's security.