Secretary-General António Guterres attends a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the death of former Secretary-General Dag · Hammarskjöld.
Speaking at a wreath-laying ceremony at UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday to honour second Secretary-General Dag · Hammarskjöld, who was killed 63 years ago, UN Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated that the UN will spare no effort to pursue the full truth about the events that led to the deadly night of Hammarskjöld's death in 1961.
Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, took office on 10 April 1953 and was re-elected. He died in a crash on 18 September 1961 while flying to the Congo to mediate the end of the civil war.
The plane crash of Dag · Hammarskjöld is a controversial and mysterious event in the history of the United Nations. After Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, the situation was volatile. The province of Katanga declared independence and was supported by foreign powers (including some Western business interests). Hammarskjöld personally flew to Africa to try to broker peace talks with Katangan leader Moise · Chongbo.
On the evening of 17 September 1961, Hammarskjöld's plane took off from the Congolese capital, Leopoldville (Cash Shasa), to Ndola in Northern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia) for secret talks with Chongbo. However, in the early hours of September 18, the plane crashed while approaching Ndola airport, killing 15 of the 16 people on board, and Hammarskjöld himself died shortly after the accident.
Investigations and Disputes
The initial investigation concluded that the plane had accidentally hit the ground and that there was no evidence of a man-made attack. However, the investigation acknowledged that there were many unsolved mysteries, in particular that some eyewitnesses reported seeing another plane approaching Hammarskjöld's plane.
In the decades that followed, conspiracy theories about Hammarskjöld's death sprang apart. Some believe that he may have been assassinated, possibly related to the interests of Western countries at the time, mining giants, or forces linked to the Cold War.
In 2011, new evidence, including declassified diplomatic cables and eyewitness reports, triggered a re-examination of the accident at the United Nations. In 2017, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Tanzania's former Chief Justice Osman as an independent investigator to conduct an in-depth investigation into the suspicions surrounding the 1961 crash of Hammarskjöld and his entourage.
In a subsequent report, Osman did not draw a conclusive conclusion, but made it clear that there was "credible evidence" that Hammarskjöld's plane may have been subjected to external interference or attack. Osman's team examined various theories about planes being attacked or accidentally hit, particularly the complexities of the great power game and the scramble for Congo's mineral resources in the context of the Cold War. The report recommends further tracking down a number of intelligence documents that have not yet been made public, particularly military and intelligence records from Western countries.
Seek the truth
Speaking at the wreath-laying ceremony, Guterres said Hammarskjöld and the families of his colleagues who died deserved answers about the plane crash.
He stressed that it was the solemn duty of the United Nations to pursue the full truth. He thanked the former Chief Justice of Tanzania, Osman, for continuing to investigate the cause of their deaths and said that he would continue to support his work to the best of his ability, including through contacts with Member States.
He called on Member States to release any relevant research and records in their possession in order to "pursue the full truth of what happened on that fateful night in 1961." ”
Inherit the will
Guterres said that Dag · Hammarskjöld is a man of integrity, humility, courage and ability, a person who is committed to the United Nations, to the Charter and to peace.
"Hammarskjöld may not be with us, but he is pushing his ideals exactly what we are striving for: peace, justice and a common humanity," he said. Effective multilateralism and common causes. ”
He said that around the world, war is raging and is destroying lives and tearing communities, causing huge loss of life among United Nations staff. Over the past 12 months, we have lost more colleagues than at any other time in the history of the Organization.
He noted that international institutions are teetering, but the future summit later this month is an opportunity. He called for reforming multilateral institutions in the spirit of Dag · Hammarskjöld so that they could pursue peace in a changing world.
He called on people to follow the example of Dag · Hammarskjöld and seize the historic opportunity to fulfil the promise of a peaceful and prosperous world for all.
