On September 18 1961, the Ndola United Nations DC-6 crashed in what is now Zambia, killing Dag Hammarskjöld — the second Secretary-General of the United Nations — and 15 others. Hammarskjöld’s death occurred en route to cease-fire negotiations. A British-run commission of inquiry blamed the crash in 1961 on pilot error. A later UN investigation rubber-stamped its findings. Case closed? Not so fast.
The findings of the UN investigation team afterwards stated: “It was strongly urged that the Commission should not conclude that the accident was due to pilot error. Reasons have been given for saying that other suggested causes were not really possible. Reasons have also been given for concluding that the approach was made by a visual descent procedure in which the aircraft was brought too low. It could not be said whether that came about as a result of inattention to the altimeters or misreading of them. The Commission felt it must conclude that the aircraft was allowed, by the pilots, to descend too low. In so doing it struck trees and crashed.”
However, rumors persist about this accident, alleging that the victims may have been shot prior to the crash or that a bomb onboard exploded.
“I continue to have a strong feeling that Hammarskjold’s death was not an accident.” – Richard Goldstone
“There is a significant amount of evidence from eyewitnesses that they observed more than one aircraft in the air, that the other aircraft may have been a jet, that SE-BDY was on fire before it crashed, and/or that SE-BDY was fired upon or otherwise actively engaged by another aircraft. In its totality, this evidence is not easily dismissed.” – Mohamed Chande Othman — Former Tanzanian chief justice (September 2017)
“We saw a plane fly over Chifubu but did not pay any attention to it the first time. When we saw it a second and third time, we thought that this plane was denied landing permission at the airport. Suddenly, we saw another aircraft approach the bigger aircraft at greater speed and release fire which appeared as a bright light. 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.” – Dickson Mbewe — Eyewitness
“It will be necessary to find some way of pulling Hammarskjold up short.” – UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (September 13 1961)
“Hammarskjöld was at the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said ‘when they killed him’.” – US President Harry Truman (September 19 1961)
A new report concerning the plane crash that killed UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld just after midnight on September 18, 1961 was recently released by a group of experts and high-profile investigators known as the Hammarskjöld Commission. It provides some compelling evidence suggesting what has long been suspected about the tragedy: that it was not an accident, but an assassination. The Commission’s goal is to urge the UN to reopen its investigation into the matter. Here is a brief rundown of the most startling pieces of information covered in this report.
The Official Version
Hammarskjöld was on his way to negotiate a ceasefire between the nationalist government of the Congo and the province of Katanga, which had seceded from the country. His plane, the Albertina, crashed shortly after midnight near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) as it was about to land. The badly burned wreckage was found nearly 15 hours later containing the charred bodies of 14 of the 16 aboard. The chief of security, Sgt. Harold Julien was found alive next to the body of Hammarskjöld several feet away from the burnt-out wreckage. He died six days later. The body of Haitian UN guard Serge Barrau was found in the cockpit. His and several other bodies contained bullet fragments. This was explained as the result of heat from the fire causing the ammunition on board the plane to combust.
Three investigations were carried out after the crash: the first by the Rhodesian Federal Dept. of Civil Aviation, the second by the Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry, and the third by the UN. Only the second investigation came to a conclusion, blaming pilot error (a mistaken determination of altitude) for the accident. The other two were inconclusive.
Motive for Murder
The implications of the Congolese conflict stretched far beyond the borders of the country. Katanga, which was backed by Western interests, had the largest deposit of uranium in the world and one of the largest deposits of cobalt. There was a fear by the West that the Congolese government, which was backed by the USSR, would nationalize its mining industry after a reunification. This would not only cut out the mainly Belgian mining companies that were well-established in the area, but it would also hand over the world’s largest supply of uranium to the Soviets. So the Western European powers as well as the US had a great deal to lose in a UN-backed reunification of the Congo; and this is exactly what the Secretary-General was attempting to accomplish.
Another Plane in the Sky
Several African witnesses reported seeing a second aircraft in the sky as the Albertina approached Ndola. Many of these witnesses claim to have seen one of these aircraft catch fire in the sky. During the previous inquiries, all the Africans’ testimony was either dismissed as unreliable or not even heard. Keep in mind that these were independent accounts by people who did not know one another.
15 Hours to Locate the Wreckage?
Even though the Albertina made contact with the Ndola control tower upon its approach around midnight and never showed up, authorities claim that they didn’t suspect anything was wrong. At around 3:30 am, a witness who saw a flash of light contacted the airport manager. Still nothing was done. At around 7 am, a UN plane was diverted to the area to perform a search but the crew was arrested for some reason. Finally at around 10 am the Royal Rhodesian Air Force began a search but canvassed the area going north and south even though it was known that the Albertina had approached from a westerly direction. Around 3:30 pm, a plane was sent in the obvious direction and located the wreckage within 25 minutes.
Several African witnesses and a few Europeans claim to have seen men at the wreckage shortly after the plane went down. Two Africans were even arrested for looting the wreckage long before the wreckage was reportedly located.
The Survivor
Sgt. Julien, who survived for six days before succumbing to complications due to liver failure, didn’t have much to say on the matter. He did say that Hammarskjöld told them to turn the plane around and then there were several explosions. A surgeon testified that Julien was incoherent so anything he said should not be taken seriously. Many other doctors and nurses stated that he was completely coherent.
The French Connection
According to the report, several people claim to have heard things over the radio that night. One of these was former intelligence officer Charles Southall. Southall was stationed at the NSA naval communications facility in Cyprus in 1961. He says that on the night in question, he was called in, having been told “Something interesting is going to happen.” He claims he heard the pilot (possibly in French, but he wasn’t sure since he is bilingual) describing his approach on the plane and then shooting it down.
This would be just another story had other testimony not surfaced. As with the JFK assassination, many people have come out of the woodwork claiming responsibility. One of these was a Belgian pilot known only as Beukels who was interviewed by French diplomat Claude de Kemoularia. It is unclear how this interview occurred, but Beukels claims to have accidentally shot down the Albertina while attempting to divert it to another location. He says he was acting on the interest of a group of European businessmen who feared that Hammarskjöld was about to reunify the Congo and wanted to “persuade” him to not do so.
Beukels said that he approached the plane, shined a searchlight on the cockpit, and instructed the pilots in French to divert the plane. The pilots were Swedish so this would account for the French speaking Haitian guard Barrau’s presence in the cockpit. It also accounts for Julien’s claim that Hammarskjöld told them to go back. Beukels says that his warning shots were off target and accidentally downed the plane.
So What Happened?
Since this incident occurred in a world of international intrigue, mercenaries, and others who are secretive by default, it seems that a solid answer will never be given. Add in the seeming probability that there was some widespread collusion involved and it seems certain that we will never truly know.
But common sense says that this is more than a simple accident. As former president Harry Truman told the New York Times two days after the crash: “Dag Hammarskjöld was on the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said ‘When they killed him.’”
This was an extremely brief overview of the evidence. There is so much more that has been made available to the public through this recent report as well as previously released sources. The NSA also apparently has some information they are not releasing, deeming it a “risk to national security” even though it was over half a century ago. That in itself seems pretty telling.
Just because something goes against the official version of events doesn’t mean it’s a “conspiracy theory.” Sometimes the official version simply doesn’t make any sense. The death of Dag Hammarskjöld certainly fits in that category. (source)
Dag Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat, economist, and author, who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, from April 1953 until his murder in a plane crash on September 18 1961.
At the age of 47 years upon his appointment, Hammarskjöld was the youngest to have held the post. Additionally, he is one of only four people to be awarded a posthumous Nobel Prize and was the only United Nations Secretary-General to die while in office.
He was assassinated in a Douglas DC-6 airplane crash en route to cease-fire negotiations. Hammarskjöld has been referred to as one of the two best secretaries-general, and his appointment has been mentioned as the most notable success for the UN.
United States President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld “the greatest statesman of our century.”
In 2011, The Guardian talked to surviving witnesses who all described Hammarskjöld’s DC6 being shot down by a second, smaller aircraft. These witnesses were never questioned by the official investigators.
In 2016, the South African government revealed the existence of ‘new evidence’. Consequently, the U.N. Secretary-General has asked the General Assembly to open an inquiry about the circumstances surrounded the death of Dag Hammarskjöld and his colleagues. An assassination has long been suspected.
Richard Goldstone — The former chief prosecutor for the U.N. war crimes tribunals in Rwanda and Yugoslavia — is quite open about this case:
“I continue to have a strong feeling that Hammarskjold’s death was not an accident.”
1961 — Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash
In September 1961, Hammarskjöld learned about fighting between “non-combatant” UN forces and Katangese troops of Moise Tshombe.
On 18 September Hammarskjöld was en route to negotiate a cease-fire when the aircraft he was flying in crashed near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).
The aircraft involved in this accident was a Douglas DC-6B, c/n 43559/251, registered in Sweden as SE-BDY, first flown in 1952 and powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-2800 18-cylinder radial piston engines.
Hammarskjöld’s private letters depict a strong UN leader guided by the UN charter, with a strong sympathy for the emerging new nations – as well as a dislike of the big powers’ arrogance and hypocrisy.
He won diplomatic victories over France and the UK in the Suez crisis in 1957 and over France in the Bizerte crisis in 1961 and he gave moral support to newly independent Guinea.
After this, President Charles de Gaulle withdrew France’s support for the UN Congo operation, boycotted the security council meetings and even encouraged French mercenaries to join the Katanga forces. [Göran Björkdahl — The Guardian]
At the time of Hammarskjöld’s death, U.S. and its allies’ intelligence agencies were actively involved in the political situation in the Congo, which culminated in Belgian and United States support for the secession of Katanga and the assassination of former prime minister Patrice Lumumba.
Belgium and the United Kingdom had a vested interest in maintaining their control over much of the country’s copper industry during the Congolese transition from colonialism to independence. [WIKIPEDIA]
“Researchers say many key players in the region, including white minority governments, had clashed with Hammarskjold, whose U.N peacekeepers had been battling Belgian-backed separatists in the mineral-rich Congolese province of Katanga.
Days before Hammarskjold’s death, the U.N. launched an offensive against Katanga’s separatists as part of an effort to drive hundreds of Belgian officers and European mercenaries out of the country.
The U.N. leader was advocating for Congo’s full independence, while Belgium, with some support from Britain, the United States and South Africa, wanted to ensure that Katanga’s riches – which included the uranium ore used in the production of the atomic weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – remained in friendly hands and out of the reach of the Soviet Union.
Motive does not equal guilt. But you may want to keep in mind that:
Several months earlier, the CIA had played a role in the assassination by Belgian officers and Katangese separatists of Congolese liberation leader Patrice Lumumba, who was suspected of moving too closely to the Soviet Union.” [Foreign Policy Magazine]
Hammarskjöld’s Last Mission
Hammarskjold, meanwhile, died while en route to discuss a cease-fire with Moise Tshombe, the Belgian-backed leader of Katanga’s secession drive.
His broader mission was to convince at Tshombe to ditch his foreign backers and make peace with Congo’s pro-Western leaders. [Foreign Policy Magazine]
Hammarskjöld suspected British diplomats secretly supported the Katanga rebellion and had obstructed a bid to arrange a truce.
On 10 September 1961, Hammarskjöld approved a UN offensive on Katanga – codenamed Operation Morthor – despite reservations of the UN legal adviser, to the fury of the US and Britain.
On the morning of 13 September the separatist leader Moise Tshombe signalled that he was ready for a truce, but changed his mind after a one-hour meeting with the UK consul in Katanga, Denzil Dunnett.
New UN Investigation (2016)
The United Nations Secretary General has released a note calling for the appointment of an eminent person to review any new information related to the plane crash that killed former UN Chief Dag Hammarskjold in 1961.
Declaring “this may be our last chance to find the truth” Ban Ki-moon sent a note to the general assembly, saying there were enough unanswered questions arising from the crash to warrant further investigation and that the responses of the UK, US and Belgium (the major powers in the region at the time) to a UN request for archive material “do not appear to alter” that conclusion.
“Seeking a complete understanding of the circumstances is our solemn duty to my illustrious and distinguished predecessor, Dag Hammarskjöld, to the other members of the party accompanying him, and to their families,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.
Related Post: UN to probe whether SEC-GEN Hammarskjold was assassinated
Related Post: UN to probe whether SEC-GEN Hammarskjold was assassinated — UPDATE 27 August 2016
Eyewitnesses
The key witnesses were located and interviewed over the past three years (2009-2011) by Göran Björkdahl, a Swedish aid worker based in Africa, who made the investigation of the Hammarskjöld mystery a personal quest since discovering his father had a fragment of the crashed DC6.
“Dickson Mbewe, now 84 (in 2011), was sitting outside his house in Chifubu compound west of Ndola with a group of friends on the night of the crash.”
“We saw a plane fly over Chifubu but did not pay any attention to it the first time,” he told the Guardian. “When we saw it a second and third time, we thought that this plane was denied landing permission at the airport. Suddenly, we saw another aircraft approach the bigger aircraft at greater speed and release fire which appeared as a bright light.”
“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.” [The Guardian]
A dozen witnesses have confirmed this story or various parts of it.
Timeline
The witnesses say the crash site was sealed off by Northern Rhodesian security forces very early in the next morning.
This happened hours before the wreckage was officially declared found, and they were ordered to leave the area.
New Evidence from South Africa
The South African government has recently announced (2016) the discovery of decades-old intelligence documents detailing a plot to assassinate Hammarskjöld. The CIA has dismissed allegations as “absurd and without foundation.” This is not entirely new…
“Another theory — put forward in letters that were allegedly written by a clandestine South African mercenary agency, and released by the South African government in 1998 — purports that South Africa had carried out a determined operation to “remove” Hammarskjöld from office.
The plot, known as Operation Celeste, allegedly had support from then CIA director Allen Dulles, who promised “full cooperation from his people,” in addition to the Belgian Mining company Union Minière.
But the UN panel was unable to confirm the veracity of the documents: in part, because South Africa did not respond to the investigators’ request for help.” [VICE NEWS]
The Usual Suspects
“The secret UN cables between UN headquarters in New York and the UN mission in Congo proved to be a mine of information.
They reveal the growing frustration of Hammarskjöld and his officials over the tactics used by the powerful mining company Union Minière, owned mainly by Belgian, British and American investors, to obstruct and undermine the UN mission in Congo.” [Göran Björkdahl — The Guardian]
“All those parties – the Belgians, the South Africans, the CIA – had a reason for opposing Dag Hammarskjold’s mission,” Goldstone told FP.
Crypto AG
I have long suspected that Crypto AG had entered into a close relationship with the NSA and that some of their machines were rigged to allowed the US Agency to easily ‘decrypt’ the coded messages. These claims were vindicated by US government documents declassified in 2015.
Related Post: Blast From The Past: The NSA – CRYPTO AG Sting
According to Sixten Svensson (Brother- in- law of Crypto AG Founder Boris Hagelin), the machine used by Hammarskjöld during his visit to Congo was one of the rigged machine.
So the CIA, the NSA and the CGHQ were able to read his communications in real – time. (This information will not be published before 2033.)
Hammarskjöld’s Last Message
The following message had been sent the day before Hammarskjöld’s death.
DOCUMENTARY: Political assassinations – Dag Hammarskjold
An Amazing Man: Göran Björkdahl
Göran Björkdahl is a Swedish aid worker based in Africa, who made the investigation of the Hammarskjöld mystery a personal quest since discovering his father had a fragment of the crashed DC6.
Björkdahl concludes that:
• Hammarskjöld’s plane was almost certainly shot down by an unidentified second plane.
• The actions of the British and Northern Rhodesian officials at the scene delayed the search for the missing plane.
• The wreckage was found and sealed off by Northern Rhodesian troops and police long before its discovery was officially announced.
• The one survivor of the crash could have been saved but was allowed to die in a poorly equipped local hospital.
Book and Academia
Dr Susan Williams’ latest book “Who Killed Hammarskjöld?” (Hurst 2011) assembled a significant body of new evidence to suggest that the 1961 plane crash in which Dag Hammarskjöld died was not an accident.
On the strength of which, the Hammarskjöld Commission was established in 2012, and recommended in September 2013 that the adjourned 1962 UN Inquiry into Dag Hammarskjöld’s death be reopened to examine the new evidence assembled by Dr Williams. [WIKISPOOK]
“I think the British response is extraordinary. It’s very brisk and curt and evasive,” said Susan Williams, a British historian at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, whose book Who Killed Hammarskjöld: The UN, the Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa, revealed new evidence that helped persuade the UN to open a new investigation into the crash near Ndola, in what was then the British colony of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia.
Part of that evidence was a report from a British intelligence officer, Neil Ritchie, who was in the area at the time of the crash and who was trying to organise a meeting between Hammarskjöld and a rebel leader from neighbouring Congo, where the UN secretary general was trying to broker a truce.
“This was British territory and they had a man on the ground. It doesn’t make them responsible for the crash but it does indicate they knew a lot of what was going on,” Williams said, adding it was “highly unlikely” that Ritchie’s report which she found in an archive at Essex University, was the only British intelligence report coming the area at the time. [The Guardian]
Means, Motive, and Opportunity — Preliminary Conclusions
Primary Conclusions
Hammarskjöld’s DC6 was most likely brought down by a jet plane.
The direct motive of the culprits (Intellectual authors of the crime) appears to be their unwillingness to lose control over Katanga minerals. For some the interest may have been financial, for others it was geopolitical.
Intended or not, a long-term consequence — perhaps goal — was to insure that, after Hammarskjöld’s death, no other UN Secretary General would ever be a challenge to the big powers.
The intellectual authors of the crime are probably to be found among Belgium, American and British investors. USA and UK Intelligence Agencies probably played a supporting role as well as mercenaries from South Africa and Katanga.
Secondary Conclusions
The official timeline of the 19 September day is probably a cover-up.
The Police and troops most likely interfered with a proper investigation.
British and Northern Rhodesian officials at the scene delayed the search for the missing plane.
The sole survivor could have been saved. Clearly, someone decided to let him die.
Forensic sciences analysis (exploded bullets) is not credible.
Who Killed Hammarskjöld?
In 2014, two diplomatic cables from the US ambassador to Kongo at the time were revealed. One of the cables was sent only hours after the crash, correctly identifies the crash site, and alleges that a Belgian pilot named “Vak Riesseghel” — likely a misspelling of van Risseghem — had shot down the plane. Van Risseghem was never officially questioned by any of the inquiries.
In April 2014, The Guardian published evidence implicating Jan van Risseghem.
Risseghem was a military pilot who served with the RAF during World War II, later with the Belgian Air Force and became famous as the pilot of Moise Tsjombé in Katanga.
The article claims that an American NSA employee, former naval pilot Commander Charles Southall, working at the NSA listening station in Cyprus in 1961 shortly after midnight on the night of the crash, heard an intercept of a pilot’s commentary in the air over Ndola – 3,000 miles away.
Southall recalled the pilot saying:
“I see a transport plane coming low. All the lights are on. I’m going down to make a run on it. Yes, it is the Transair DC-6. It’s the plane,” adding that his voice was “cool and professional”.
Then he heard the sound of gunfire and the pilot exclaiming: “I’ve hit it. There are flames! It’s going down. It’s crashing!”
Based on aircraft registration and availability with the Katanga Air Force, registration KAT-93, a Fouga CM.170 Magister would be the most likely aircraft .
The website http://www.belgian-wings.be/ claims that van Risseghem piloted the Magisters for the KAF in 1961. [WIKIPEDIA]
The following piece “Dag Hammarskjold, un complot qui n’est plus une théorie” explains how it was possible to identify Jan van Risseghem.
Release the Records
Stephen Sedley was a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales from 1999 to 2011 and a visiting professor of law at Oxford University from 2011 to 2014.
In a recent Opinion piece published in the New York Times (02/09/2016), he wrote the following:
Two recent commissions — the first of which I led, the second set up by the United Nations General Assembly in response to my commission’s findings — appear to have been stalled by a United States agency that may hold critical evidence pointing to the cause of the disaster. (…)
There was also evidence that the N.S.A. was monitoring the airwaves in the Ndola region, almost certainly from one of two American aircraft parked on the tarmac. Our inquiry therefore asked the agency for any relevant records it held of local radio traffic before the crash. The agency replied that it had three records “responsive” to our request but that two of those were classified Top-Secret and would not be disclosed. (…)
As the United Nations appoints a new leader, it needs to continue to press all its member states to disclose and declassify whatever records they hold that might help to resolve the mystery of the violent death of the organization’s second Secretary-General.
Very nicely said, but I have a strong feeling that the US, the UK and Belgium are not about to declassify or disclose any relevant documents in the near future on the ground of National Security. I wish I could be wrong…
SEPT 26 2017 — First Result of the UN Investigation
In February 2017, following a recommendation by a UN-appointed three-member expert panel, the UN tasked Mohamed Chande Othman — a former Tanzanian chief justice — to re-investigate the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjöld.
Othman delivered his final report to the UN Secretary General António Guterres in August. The Guardian published a story based on the executive summary. The Report appears to confirm the thesis of an assassination which INTEL TODAY has always regarded as the most likely. Here is short extract from the Guardian piece:
A UN report into the death of its former secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld in a 1961 plane crash in central Africa has found that there is a “significant amount of evidence” that his flight was brought down by another aircraft.
The report, delivered to the current secretary-general, António Guterres, last month, took into account previously undisclosed information provided by the US, UK, Belgian, Canadian and German governments.
Its author, Mohamed Chande Othman, a former Tanzanian chief justice, found that the US and UK governments had intercepted radio traffic in the area at the time and suggested that the 56-year-old mystery could be solved if the contents of those classified recordings were produced.
“I am indebted for the assistance that I received, which uncovered a large amount of valuable new information,” Othman said in an executive summary of his report, seen by the Guardian. “I can confidently state that the deeper we have gone into the searches, the more relevant information has been found.” [GUARDIAN]
Among Othman’s new findings are:
In February 1961, the French secretly supplied three Fouga warplanes to the Katanga rebels, “against the objections of the US government”. Contrary to previous findings, they were used in air-to-air attacks, flown at night and from unpaved airstrips in Katanga.
Fresh evidence bolsters an account by a French diplomat, Claude de Kemoularia, that he had been told in 1967 by a Belgian pilot known as Beukels, who had been flying for the rebels as a mercenary, that he had fired warning shots to try to divert the plane away from Ndola and accidentally clipped its wing. Othman said he was unable establish Beukels’ identity in the time available for his inquiry.
[Comment: As I wrote before, there is significant evidence implicating a Belgian mercenary: Jan van Risseghem.]
The UK and Rhodesian authorities were intercepting UN communications at the time of the crash and had intelligence operatives in the area. The UK should therefore have potentially crucial evidence in its classified archives
The US had sophisticated electronic surveillance aircraft “in and around Ndola” as well as spies, and defence officials, on the night of the crash, and Washington should be able to provide more detailed information.
Quick Analysis — Well, this is not too bad but really far from being satisfactory! For instance, there is no reference to the fact that the NSA had planted a rigged CRYPTO AG machine on Dag’s team to be able to decode in real-time all his communications.
Also, the story of the three Fouga Magister planes delivered by the French is absolutely misleading. These planes were delivered during a CIA operation. As the NYT wrote recently:
“Seven months before the crash, three Fouga Magisters had been delivered to the secessionists aboard an American-owned cargo plane that was supposed to be delivering food.
President John F. Kennedy was deeply embarrassed by the delivery, which was later reported to have been a C.I.A. operation.”
RELATED POST: Suspicious Aviation Tragedies: 1961 — Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash [UPDATE: The New York Times wakes up!]
Here is a reference for those who wish to dig a bit deeper in that part of the story.
“Almost immediately, air power in Katanga was brought in as a game-changer—but not by the United Nations. At this early stage of the conflict, the Force Aérienne Katangaise (FAK) held air superiority, though it consisted of only three Fouga Magister jet trainers.
Remarkably these aircraft were brought to Katanga in February 1961 aboard a Boeing Stratocruiser operated by the Seven Seas Charter Company, later identified as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor and possibly a front company.
After UN officials observed the unloading of the aircraft, the mission grounded the company’s entire fleet of planes which the United Nations had earlier contracted to carry food.” The UN’s First “Air Force”: Peacekeepers in Combat, Congo 1960–64. A. Walter Dorn
Finally, Othman was able to confirm the existence of radio traffic transcripts that were intercepted on the night of the crash by British, Rhodesian and American military and intelligence agencies.
The declassification of these documents could shed some light on this affair but I doubt it will happen any time soon…
PS: This post will be updated on a regular basis whenever additional information is made available.
UPDATE (September 18 2018) — The UN investigation is moving very slowly and completely secretly. Not one significant piece of information was revealed over the past 12 months. And no one seems to really care. MSM are completely ignoring the 57th anniversary.
On Friday June 8 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted to elect Germany, Belgium, South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia for a two-year term in the Security Council starting on Jan. 1, 2019.
The irony of this vote should not be lost. Three of these countries have almost certainly played a key role in the assassination of Dag Hammarskjöld.
Perhaps Belgian people find it difficult to remember that their country was fighting the UN peacekeepers back in these years?
For almost six decades, Belgium has refused to reveal its official documents detailing the role of the Belgian government, companies and mercenaries in this assassination. And Belgium is still not collaborating with the UN investigators today.
In the past, Germany has done its best to hide the delivery of Dornier planes to the Katanga Air Force. One of these was delivered in late August 1961 and may very well have been the instrument of the crime. Only South Africa has volunteered to help the new UN investigation.
UPDATE (September 18 2019) — I had some hope that the UN would release the report for the 58th anniversary of the death of former Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld. So far, nothing… Yesterday, António Guterres — speaking at the Wreath-laying ceremony — stated that the report will be discussed by the General Assembly in the next few weeks… Let us wait.
RELATED POST: Biography — Jan Van Risseghem [Prime Suspect in Hammarskjold Cold case] // UPDATE
RELATED POST: Dag Hammarskjold — Belgian Intel Agency Fabricated Mercenary Alibi
RELATED POST: EXCLUSIVE — Belgian Mercenary Killed Dag Hammarskjold // UPDATE — Story Confirmed!
So, what have we learned in the last 12 months? On January 12 2019, The Guardian confirmed that Belgian mercenary Jan van Risseghem is indeed the person responsible for the death of Dag Hammarskjold and his crew.
A friend has also come forward to claim that, less than a decade after Hammarskjöld’s death, Van Risseghem told him he had attacked the plane. Pierre Coppens met Van Risseghem in 1965, when he was flying for a parachute training centre in Belgium.
Over several conversations, he claimed, the pilot detailed how he overcame various technical challenges to down the plane, unaware of who was travelling inside.
“He didn’t know,” Coppens said. “He said ‘I made the mission’ and that’s all. And then I had to go back and save my life’.”
All the details “exclusively revealed by The Guardian” were previously published by Intel Today more than a year before… Even the pic of Jan van Risseghem was initially published on this blog.
In November 2017, a very credible source told INTEL TODAY that Jan Van Risseghem was the Belgian mercenary caused the death of Dag Hammarskjold.
But, there was just one serious problem. The Belgian State Security Services — VSSE — had provided Jan Van Risseghem with a rock solid alibi.
However, newly released official documents from the VSSE show that this alibi is a pure fabrication…
[Belgian journalist Bruno Struys really deserves our respect for his persistent and excellent work in trying to get access to these documents. Great article published by the Flemish Newspaper De Morgen!]In my opinion, Journalists and investigators are still missing the importance of one critical aspect of this story: the role of CRYPTO AG. [I plan to work on this issue with someone who knew well Boris Hagelin.]
RELATED POST: Boris Hagelin — The Swiss Businessman Who Sold The World Out
While we are waiting for the UN report, I would like to make one point. Those who killed Dag Hammarskjold have achieved a long term goal beyond their wildest dreams. No Secretary-General of the United Nations will ever stand up to the Great Powers.
Look at this video of António Guterres speaking yesterday at the Wreath-laying ceremony commemorating the 58th anniversary of the death of former Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld (September 17 2019). This guy has barely the energy to read his text…
REFERENCES
- Dag Hammarskjöld: evidence suggests UN chief’s plane was shot down — The Guardian August 2011
- ‘I have no doubt Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane was brought down’ — The Guardian August 2011
- UN to probe whether iconic secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold was assassinated — Foreign Policy Magazine | Published: August 2, 2016
- Dag Hammarskjöld: Ban Ki-moon seeks to appoint investigator for fatal crash — The Guardian August 2016
- Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary General on the release of his follow-up note to the report of the Independent Panel of Experts dealing with the death of Dag Hammarskjöld — UN 24 August 2016
- Ban releases follow-up to report on the death of former UN chief Dag Hammarskjöld — UN 24 August 2016
- Release the Records on Dag Hammarskjold’s Death — NYT September 2016
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