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[fabrice]

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The Brazilian general who headed the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti was buried in Rio de Janeiro with full military honors on Wednesday, five days after his apparent suicide in his hotel room in the Haitian capital.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took part in a ceremony in the capital Brasilia in honor of Lt. Gen. Urano Bacellar in the morning before soldiers in full dress uniform loaded the coffin, draped in a Brazilian flag, onto a military plane which flew it to Rio de Janeiro.

In Rio, a squad of paratroopers escorted the coffin to a grave at the Carmo Memorial Cemetery and fired a salute as it was lowered into the ground. A band played the song "Eternal Hero" at the request of his widow.

No explanation has been offered for Bacellar's death, which has stunned Brazilians. He had commanded the 9,000-strong U.N. force in Haiti since the end of August. His body was found on Saturday in his hotel room in the capital Port-au-Prince.

Brasilia police chief Laerte Bessa, citing autopsy results, said on Wednesday he had died from a gunshot fired into his mouth and had gunpowder on one hand.

"We concluded it was suicide," Bessa said.

Armed forces commander Gen. Francisco Albuquerque told reporters after the funeral however that the army did not consider the finding final and other issues were being analyzed.

Albuquerque said he had never noticed any sign of depression in Bacellar.

"I sent him there. He was vetted by the U.N., who saw he had all the qualities. He was an exceptional professional, the best."

The United Nations favors appointing another Brazilian to head the force. Brazil has suggested two people for the job: Gen. Jose Elito Carvalho Siqueira, commander of Brazil's sixth military region; and Gen. Jeannot Jansen da Silva Filho, deputy head of the army's logistics department.

Brazil took leadership of the peacekeeping force after an armed revolt ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.

Lula presented the mission as a projection of Brazil's growing status as a regional power but critics said it was acting as a surrogate for United States, which helped engineer Aristide's flight.

Despite the U.N. presence in Haiti, political violence and kidnappings have been on the rise as it struggles to organize its first presidential election since the revolt.