au-Prince, Haiti, Jan 7, SPA -- The commander of the United Nations' peacekeeping force in Haiti was found dead in his hotel room on Saturday after apparently shooting himself, U.N. officials said, according to Reuters. Brazilian Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar's death comes as the troubled Caribbean country struggles to organize its first presidential election since a month-long armed revolt ousted then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004. The general, who had been in command of the 9,000-strong U.N. force in Haiti since the end of August, appeared to have been alone in his suite at the Montana hotel in the capital Port-au-Prince at the time of the shooting. His gun was found near his body, which was dressed in shorts and a white T-shirt, witnesses said. "It is unfortunate and devastating to see such a good and honorable general killed in such circumstances," Brazil's ambassador to Haiti, Paulo Cordeiro de Andrade Pinto, told Reuters as he left the hotel. The Brazilian army referred to the incident as a "firearm accident," according to news agency reports in Brazil. Bacellar grew up in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul and was a career military officer. --More 21 36 Local Time 18 36 GMT
