UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN special representative to Iraq, died today in a suicide bombing in Baghdad, in the deadliest attack on the UN in it's 58 year history. It is being reported that he survived the initial blast, but died after about three hours, while still buried in the rubble.

The BBC's obituary is here:

BBC Obituary

He was also UN special representative in East Timor and Bosnia, and his Middle East experience dates back to 1981, with UN troops assigned to Lebanon.

He was, prior to his death, widely expected to be the successor to Kofi Annan.