Britain, US Accused of Blocking Probe Into 1961 Plane Crash That Killed UN Chief

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Facts

  • Academic researchers claimed at a conference in London on Thursday that the UK and US have blocked and shown contempt for the UN inquiry into a 1961 plane crash that killed UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and 15 others.1
  • This comes as both countries declined at the end of 2022 to co-sponsor a resolution at the UN General Assembly to continue the years-long investigation, despite the latest reports having found that an external attack or threat was a plausible cause for the disaster.2
  • Established by then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2013, after new evidence about the fatal incident emerged, the independent panel has long reported that intelligence agencies, mostly from the US, refuse to declassify documents or allow 'privileged access' to information.3
  • The DC-6 Albertina which was carrying Hammarskjöld and his team crashed overnight on Sep. 17-18, 1961 as they headed to Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) to negotiate a cease-fire with the former Belgian Congo's breakaway Katanga state at the height of the Cold War.4
  • Though initial findings suggested it likely occurred due to human error, eyewitness accounts claiming the plane caught fire before crashing contradict such explanation, and have prompted speculation that another aircraft, deliberately or accidentally, caused the Albertina to crash.5
  • According a 2019 documentary about the crash, Belgian-born, British Royal Air Force-trained mercenary pilot Jan van Risseghem confided to a friend that he had shot down the plane. Additionally, another pilot for the Katangese claimed that Van Rissegham's flight logs looked forged.6

Sources: 1The Guardian, 2The Yale Review, 3The Wall Street Journal, 4France 24, 5Economist and 6Sputnik International.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The New European. Unfounded claims that American spies masterminded the death of Hammarskjöld are anything but new, as the KGB used to diffuse this and other allegations during the Cold War to try to erode trust in American institutions and sow divisions among NATO allies. It's shocking that this disinformation is now pervading Western universities.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by The New York Times. It's a matter of fact that both US intelligence agencies and the British colonial administration of Rhodesia had their reasons to want Hammarskjöld dead. Although motives don't necessarily mean guilt, it's immensely concerning that both nations are continuing to restrict records that could help finally elucidate this mystery.