The Death of Dag Hammarskjold

[John Simkin]

New inquiry set up into death of UN secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld

Commission will investigate 1961 plane crash after new claims of assassination and cover-up

• 
  Julian Borger
  
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 18 July 2012 22.41 BST
  

A fresh international inquiry is to be opened into the mysterious 1961 plane crash that killed the UN secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld following the emergence of new evidence over the past year.

A Guardian investigation in August 2011 and a book published the following month both pointed to witness testimony that the plane was shot down over British-ruled Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, possibly by western mercenaries, and that the assassination was covered up by the colonial authorities.

The commission of inquiry will include a retired British appeal court judge, Sir Stephen Sedley, as well as Richard Goldstone, a South African judge who was formerly chief prosecutor at The Hague war crimes tribunal. The panel will also include a retired Swedish ambassador, Hans Corell, and a Dutch judge, Wilhelmina Thomassen.

The findings will not carry legal status but will be presented to the UN.

The commission was established after a preliminary review of the new evidence by an "enabling committee" including Lord Lea of Crondall, a former Commonwealth secretary general, Emeka Anyaoku, and the former archbishop of Sweden Karl Gustav Hammar.

"Why are we doing this? Because we believe that the whole of the truth, in significant respects, has yet to be told," said Lea, a former senior trade unionist. "There is prima facie evidence from a book published in 2011, Who Killed Hammarskjöld? by Susan Williams, and from other sources, that there is new information that ought to be evaluated."

"The legacy of colonialism won't go away," said Williams. "Here at last is an opportunity for a distinguished group of international jurists to examine a most disturbing episode at the dying end of colonial rule in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Hammarskjöld carried the hopes of a generation in Africa, for whom his death was a tragedy."

The unanswered questions the commission will look into include why the sole survivor of the crash said the plane "blew up" before it fell from the sky, why local residents reported seeing a smaller second plane attack Hammarskjöld's DC-6 aircraft, and why the wreckage was not officially found for 15 hours, though it was only eight miles from the airport.

The crash happened during the struggle for post-colonial Congo just over the border. Williams says the evidence suggests the DC-6, known as the Albertina, was fired on by a plane piloted by mercenaries fighting for Katanga separatists who had revolted against the government of the newly independent Congo with the help of Belgian mining interests.

Hammarskjöld was hated by many white settlers in the region for the UN's military support of the Congolese government in Leopoldville, now Kinshasa. He went to Ndola in Northern Rhodesia with the aim of brokering a ceasefire, flying under cover of darkness to avoid being intercepted by Katangese war planes.

A British-run commission of inquiry blamed the crash in 1961 on pilot error and a later UN investigation recorded an open verdict.

Dickson Mbewe, a former charcoal burner, was sitting outside his house near Ndola on the night of the crash.

"Suddenly, we saw another aircraft approach the bigger aircraft at greater speed and release fire which appeared as a bright light," Mbewe, 84, told the Guardian last year.

"The plane on the top turned and went in another direction. We sensed the change in sound of the bigger plane. It went down and disappeared."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/18/inquiry-death-un-dag-hammarskjold-2

[John Dolva]

Any mention of a piece of metal with odd perforations?

[John Dolva]

An international "juristcommission" considers that new evidence has come forward about the aircrash that UN's general secretary Dag Hammarsjold died in. The commission recommendation is the UN investigates the crash again :

http://www.aftonbladet.se/senastenytt/ttnyheter/inrikes/article17438264.ab

Utredare: Nya bevis om Hammarskjöld

Stockholm. En internationell juristkommission anser att nya bevis har kommit fram om flygkraschen 1961 där FN:s generalsekreterare Dag Hammarskjöld dödades.

Kommissionen rekommenderar FN att utreda kraschen igen.

Hammarskjöld var på väg att medla i Kongokonflikten när planet gick i backen i nuvarande Zambia. De tidigare utredningarnas slutsatser om kraschen har varit omstridda.

Utredarna anser att möjligheten att en attack mot planet från luften, eller att det tvingats ner på grund av hot, borde "trots allt tas på allvar".

I rapporten talar kommissionen om "en förbluffande frånvaro av några bandupptagningar" som radiokontakten Ndolas flygledartorn i dåvarande Nordrhodesia hade vid tiden för händelsen, samt den "påvisbara ofullständigheten" i loggböckerna.

Enligt kommissionen hade amerikansk personal radioövervakningsutrustning vid flygplatsen och det är "högst troligt" att all lokal och regional radiotrafik kring Ndola från natten mellan den 17 och 18 september 1961 - när planet störtade - "följdes och spelades in av NSA och möjligen även av CIA".

I arkiven för USA:s övervakningsorgan NSA kan alltså mycket intressanta svar stå att finna, skriver kommissionen. Men när den bett NSA om att få tillgång till sådana uppgifter har svaret blivit nej med hänvisning till "topphemlig" sekretess för att skydda nationens säkerhet.

Kommissionen har lämnat in klagomål hos amerikanska myndigheter mot att uppgifterna fortfarande är sekretessbelagda.

Svenske Hans Corell, folkrättsexpert och tidigare rättschef i FN, är en av fyra jurister i kommissionen. Han anser att NSA:s uppgifter kan vara mycket viktiga.

– Deras information kan vara avgörande. Vi utgår från att det finns anteckningar om radiotrafiken kring Ndola-flygplatsen den natten, säger Corell till TT.

Mycket är dimhöljt efter mer än 50 år - en dimma som i viss mån tätnat. Ändå, anser kommissionen, är det möjligt att dagens fakta "fört oss något närmare sanningen om en händelse med global betydelse som förtjänar uppmärksamheten från både historien och rättvisan."

Corell vill inte spekulera i hur stor chansen är att FN:S generalförsamling verkligen öppnar utredningen igen.

– Men jag tror att när man ser den här rapporten måste ändå generalförsamlingen känna ett ansvar för att man måste försöka bringa klarhet i hur Förenta Nationernas högste tjänsteman på den tiden omkom - var det en olycka eller var det någonting annat.

Flera teorier finns om orsaken till kraschen: Misstag av piloterna, att Hammarskjölds DC 6 attackerats av mindre stridsflygplan, att någon ombord försökt kapa planet eller att en mindre sprängladdning ombord detonerade.

I sin rapport har kommissionen bland annat intervjuat vittnen som såg planet på väg in mot landning på flygplatsen i Ndola. Flera av dem talar om eldslågor i eller omkring planet redan när det var på väg mot marken - vilket skulle tala emot pilotmisstag.

Bakgrund: Kraschen och utredningarna

Tre utredningar av kraschen gjordes 1961-1962. FN:s utredning som avslutades 1962 säger att FN:s generalförsamling ska informeras om nya bevis som kommer fram och att utredningen i så fall återigen kan öppnas, vilket juristerna nu hänvisar till.

Kritiker har menat att mycket få egentliga försök till utredning gjordes av andra möjliga orsaker till kraschen än misstag av de svenska piloterna. Kritik mot mörkläggning och förutfattad ensidighet i utredningsarbetet har luftats från flera håll, skriver Svenska Dagbladet.

[John Dolva]

further on the above:

205859963 Letter From Ban Ki Moon Asking UN General Assembly to Look Into New Evidence Concerning Death of Dag Hammarskjold

http://www.scribd.com/doc/206194076/205859963-Letter-From-Ban-Ki-Moon-Asking-UN-General-Assembly-to-Look-Into-New-Evidence-Concerning-Death-of-Dag-Hammarskjold

United Nations

A

/68/232

General Assembly

Distr.: General 5 February 2014 Original: English

14-22712 (E) 060214

*1422712*

Sixty-eighth session

Request for the inclusion of an additional item in the agenda of the sixty-eighth session Investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjöld and of members of the party accompanying him

Letter dated 4 February 2014 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the General Assembly

Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 1759 (XVII) of 26 October 1962, and in accordance with rule 15 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, I have the honour to request the inclusion of an additional item entitled “Investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjöld and of members of the party accompanying him” in the agenda of the sixty-eighth session. In accordance with rule 20 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, an explanatory memorandum is attached.

Signed

BAN Ki-moon

A/68/232

14-22712

2/2

Annex Explanatory memorandum Investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjöld and of members of the party accompanying him

In its resolution 1759 (XVII), the General Assembly took note of the report of the Commission of investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjöld and of members of the party accompanying him and, interalia, requested the Secretary-General to inform the General Assembly of any new evidence which might come to his attention.

In July 2012, an enabling committee chaired by Lord Lea of Crondall, and consisting of the former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku, and the Archbishop Emeritus of the Church of Sweden, K. G. Hammar, set up a commission of jurists chaired by Sir Stephen Sedley (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and composed also of Ambassador Hans Corell (Sweden), Justice Richard Goldstone (South Africa) and Judge Wilhelmina Thomassen (Netherlands). The report of the commission of jurists to inquire into the death of Dag Hammarskjöld (the Hammarskjöld Commission) was made public on 9 September 2013 and formally presented to the Secretary-General shortly thereafter.

In successive submissions between 27 September and 20 December 2013, the Hammarskjöld Commission made available the information it had relied on in its report.

As new evidence concerning the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjöld and of members of the party accompanying him has come to his attention, the Secretary-General, in order to inform the General Assembly in accordance with its resolution 1759 (XVII), requests the inclusion of an additional item entitled “Investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjöld and of members of the party accompanying him” in the agenda of the sixty-eighth session.

edit formatting, can't get rid of white spaces.

Edited February 11, 2014 by John Dolva

[Steven Gaal]

decoloni­sa­tion = death

http://spitfirelist.com/for-the-record/ftr-707-update-on-euro-fascism/

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Harry S Truman’s famous quote about mur­dered ANTI-FASCIST SWEDE Dag Hammarskjold:

“Dag Ham­marskjöld was on the point of get­ting some­thing done when they killed him; notice that I said, ‘When they killed him’”.

At bot­tom, new infor­ma­tion about the mys­tery of Hammarskjold’s death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dag_Hammarskjold

Dag Ham­marskjöld (29 July 1905 – 18 Sep­tem­ber 1961) was a Swedish diplo­mat, econ­o­mist, and author. An early Secretary-General of the United Nations, he served from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in Sep­tem­ber 1961. He is the only per­son to have been awarded a posthu­mous Nobel Peace Prize.[1] Ham­marskjöld remains the only U.N. Secretary-General to die in office, and his death occurred en route to cease-fire nego­ti­a­tions. Praised by many, Pres­i­dent of the United States John F. Kennedy called Ham­marskjöld “the great­est states­man of our century”.[2]

Sept. 18, 1961. A DC-6B air­liner car­ry­ing 56-year-old Dag Ham­marskjold, the Swedish secretary-general of the U.N., crashed in a jun­gle near Ndola in present-day Zam­bia. On board were a six-man crew plus Hammarskjold’s staff of eight men and one woman. All were killed instantly except for Ham­marskjold and an aide, who were both thrown clear. Although the plane was sev­eral hours over­due and a police inspec­tor tele­phoned the air­port to describe a mys­te­ri­ous flash, no search party was orga­nized until 10:00 A.M. The wreck­age was sighted at 3:10 P.M. Ham­marskjold had died dur­ing the night, but his aide, Sgt. Harold Julien, a secu­rity offi­cer, sur­vived for five days, dur­ing which time he raved about explo­sions and sparks in the sky.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/17/dag-hammarskjold-un-secretary-general-crash

Quote:
“New evi­dence has emerged in one of the most endur­ing mys­ter­ies of United Nations and African his­tory, sug­gest­ing that the UN sec­re­tary gen­eral, Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane was shot down over North­ern Rhode­sia (now Zam­bia) 50 years ago, and the mur­der cov­ered up by the British colo­nial authorities.

“A British-run com­mis­sion of inquiry blamed the 1961 crash on pilot error, and a later UN inves­ti­ga­tion largely rubber-stamped its find­ings. They ignored or down­played wit­ness tes­ti­mony of vil­lagers near the crash site which sug­gested foul play. The Guardian has talked to sur­viv­ing wit­nesses who were never ques­tioned by the offi­cial inves­ti­ga­tions and were too scared to come forward.

“The res­i­dents on the west­ern out­skirts of the town of Ndola described Hammarskjöld’s DC6 being shot down by a sec­ond, smaller air­craft. They say the crash site was sealed off by North­ern Rhode­sian secu­rity forces the next morn­ing, many hours before the wreck­age was offi­cially declared found, and they were ordered to leave the area.

“The inves­ti­ga­tion led Björk­dahl to pre­vi­ously unpub­lished telegrams – seen by the Guardian – from the days lead­ing up to Hammarskjöld’s death on 17 Sep­tem­ber 1961, which illus­trate US and British anger at an abortive UN mil­i­tary oper­a­tion that the secretary-general ordered on behalf of the Con­golese gov­ern­ment against a rebel­lion backed by west­ern min­ing com­pa­nies and mer­ce­nar­ies in the mineral-rich Katanga region.

“Ham­marskjöld was fly­ing to Ndola for peace talks with the Katanga lead­er­ship at a meet­ing that the British helped arrange. The fiercely inde­pen­dent Swedish diplo­mat had by then enraged almost all the major pow­ers on the secu­rity coun­cil with his sup­port for decoloni­sa­tion but sup­port from third world states meant his re-election as secretary-general would have been vir­tu­ally guar­an­teed if he had lived until the gen­eral assem­bly vote due weeks later.”

Posted by R. Wilson | August 29, 2011, 8:48 pm

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Midnight in the Congo The Assassination of Lumumba and the
Mysterious Death of Dag Hammarskjold

http://www.ctka.net/pr399-congo.html

Edited February 11, 2014 by Steven Gaal

[John Dolva]

There may be a break. The pilot may have been correctly identified and those responsible for ordering and organising the assassination of DH may come to light. At the moment it seems to depend on how much the us agencies are prepared to divulge. They may be directly involved so I wouldn't hold my breath.