For the United Nations, the death of Sergio Vieira de Mello was a crippling blow, comparable in its effect on the UN's sense of its own possibility to the impact President Kennedy's murder had on the self-confidence of the United States.

He could transform hopeless situations into hopeful ones and negotiate cease-fires at the height of genocidal wars.

He must have known that he was faced with making the best of a bad job. And yet he had been in bad situations before and succeeded.