Mystery still surrounds death of revered UN chief Hammarskjöld, 63 years after tragic plane crash

Mr. Hammarskjöld served as Secretary-General from April 1953 until his death aged 56, when the chartered Douglas DC6 aircraft he was travelling in with others, registered as SE-BDY, crashed shortly after midnight on 17-18 September 1961, near Ndola, then in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

He was en route to negotiate a ceasefire between UN peacekeepers and separatists from the breakaway Congolese region of Katanga, and possibly even a peace agreement encompassing the whole of newly independent Congo.

The Life and Death of Dag Hammarskjöld

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Fourteen of the 15 passengers died on impact, and the sole survivor succumbed to their injuries a few days later.

An initial inquiry by Rhodesian authorities reportedly attributed the crash to pilot error but the finding was disputed.

Eyewitness accounts suggested several scenarios, that “more than one aircraft” – possibly a jet – was observed in the air, “SE-BDY was on fire before it crashed”, and/or “SE-BDY was fired upon or otherwise actively engaged” by another aircraft.

General Assembly action

Over the years, the UN General Assembly has mandated a series of inquiries into the death of Mr. Hammarskjöld and those of his party. The most recent, in December 2022, was led by Mohamed Chande Othman, former Chief Justice of Tanzania, with the formal title of “Eminent Person”.

Mr. Othman also led several previous investigations into the fateful crash and the events surrounding it.

On Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres transmitted Mr. Othman’s latest report to the Assembly.

Significant new information

According to the UN’s Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, “significant new information” has been submitted to the inquiry for this latest update.

This included probable intercepts by Member States of communications related to the crash, the capacity of Katanga’s armed forces, or others, to mount an attack on SE-BDY and the involvement of foreign paramilitary or intelligence personnel in the area at the time.

It also included additional new information relevant to the context and surrounding events of 1961.

“At this juncture, [Mr. Othman] assesses it to remain plausible that an external attack or threat was a cause of the crash. [He] notes that the alternative hypotheses that appear to remain available are that the crash resulted from sabotage or unintentional human error,” Mr. Haq said.

Documents almost certainly withheld

However, Mr. Othman assesses so far that it is “almost certain” specific, crucial and so far undisclosed information exists in the archives of Member States, Mr. Haq said.

He noted that Mr. Othman has not received, to date, specific responses to his queries from some Member States believed to be holding useful information.

“The Secretary-General has personally followed up on [Mr. Othman’s] outstanding requests for information and calls upon Member States to release any relevant records in their possession,” Mr. Haq added.

“With significant progress having been made, the Secretary-General calls on all of us to renew our resolve and commitment to pursue the full truth of what happened on that fateful night in 1961.”

‘An extraordinary man’

Appointed at just 47 years old, Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden remains the youngest UN Secretary-General.

Widely regarded as a visionary diplomat and reformer, Mr. Hammarskjöld is credited with strengthening the role of the newly established UN during a period of intense global tensions, including the drive to decolonise Africa and Asia.

“Hammarskjöld was not usually a companionable man, but he was certainly an extraordinary one, and we were all prepared – indeed anxious – to serve him without question to the limit of our powers and endurance,” Sir Brian Urquhart, a former senior UN official, remarked.

His leadership was pivotal during the tumultuous events of 1956. He led a ceasefire mission to the Middle East and continued through the Suez crisis, where he helped negotiate the withdrawal of foreign forces from Egypt and oversaw the deployment of the Organization’s first emergency peacekeeping mission, the UN Emergency Force.

Mr. Hammarskjöld was known for his integrity and dedication to public service, earning the Nobel Peace Prize “for developing the UN into an effective and constructive international organization capable of giving life to the principles and aims expressed in the UN Charter”.

He is the only Nobel Peace Prize Laureate to have been awarded the distinction posthumously.