UN spokesman hails professionalism of late Boston Globe journalist

Offering condolences on the recent accidental death in Iraq of Boston Globe journalist Elizabeth Neuffer, a United Nations spokesman today praised her professionalism in covering international events.

"I wish to express our sorrow at the death on Friday of Elizabeth Neuffer," Manoel de Almeida e Silva, a spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told reporters in Kabul. "Afghanistan – the Loya Jirga in particular – was among the many stories that she covered during a 15-year distinguished career at the Boston Globe," he noted.

The spokesman went on to recall his own experiences with Ms. Neuffer. "I first met her when she was covering the war in Bosnia," he said. "Our paths crossed again when she was assigned as the Globe's correspondent at the United Nations in New York and then again here in Afghanistan."

Mr. de Almeida e Silva praised the reporter, who was killed in a car accident on the road from Tikrit to Baghdad, as "a fine example of a very serious professional journalist and a warm, compassionate human being."