DAG HAMMARSKJOLD DEATH "NOT AN ACCIDENT"

July 19, 2012

Dag Hammarskjöld was a rara avis. It was not surprising that he should have become a seasoned academic and politician, since he was born to a family with roots in politics that spanned centuries, while his own father, Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1914 to 1917. What is impressive is the vision and integrity that accompanied him throughout his career, particularly while Secretary-General of the United Nations. He was the second Secretary-General, succeeding Trygve Lie in 1953, and he is widely considered responsible for having given the post its dynamic and unique quality. He died in a plane crash in September 1961, while on a delicate diplomatic mission and for his efforts was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, like Yasser Arafat, he too appears to be speaking from beyond the grave.

Dag Hammarskjöld

Hammarskjöld was on a peace mission to the Congo, shortly after its independence from Belgium, when his plane came down in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). It was a journey into a hornets nest. The former colonial power, it is alleged, backed by the US and Britain, were supporting the separatists from the Katanga Province and were determined that he should fail in order to protect their interests, especially mining, in that area. Being so good at what he did, eliminating him was the only was to stop him from succeeding.

Inquiries into Hammarskjöld death were vague and there were many contradictions in the official versions of events. Evidence to suggest foul play, however, has been springing up from very different sources ever since the unexplained "accident" happened, much of it from reliable sources, including witnesses to the actual disaster, Hammarskjöld's own nephew, Desmond Tutu (when chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission) and findings from an independent investigation by The Guardian news paper. Now a full investigation has been commissioned which will present its finding to the UN as soon as it is completed.

Sometimes we owe a great debt to conspiracy theorists: without them time would not be able to nurture those elements of truth that only they may be keeping alive.