BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Annan recalls Iraq envoy anguish

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Annan recalls Iraq envoy anguish: "UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said the death of his envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, 'hit me almost as much as the loss of my twin sister'.

At his final news conference he said the loss of his friend and colleague was his worst moment in the job.

Efua Annan died of an illness in 1991. Mr de Mello and 22 other UN staff were killed in a car bomb attack on their HQ in Baghdad in 2003.

Mr Annan hands over to his successor, Ban Ki-moon, on 1 January.

Mr Annan said other regrets from his time in office included the UN's inability to prevent the US-led invasion of Iraq in early 2003, and what he said was the way in which the mismanagement of the Iraq oil-for-food programme was exploited to undermine the UN.

'I hope that historians will realise that the UN is more than oil-for-food,' he told reporters." Read complete post here.