Sweden urges UN inquiry into chief's death

By Agence France-Presse in United Nations | China Daily | Updated: 2014-12-17 07:46

Sweden asked the United Nations on Monday to reopen an inquiry into the mysterious death of former UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold more than 50 years ago, citing new evidence and a need to close "an open wound."

Hammarskjold died when his plane went down near Ndola in what was then Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, on Sept 18, 1961, but countless studies have failed to find the cause of the crash.

Ambassador Per Thoresson presented a draft resolution to the UN General Assembly on setting up a panel of experts to follow up on a report last year by an independent commission that cited new information in the baffling case.

One of the key points of the text is an appeal to all member states, including the United States, to release records on the circumstances of the plane crash that may have been kept secret.

"This has been an open wound in Sweden for more than 50 years," Thoresson said. "We are anxious to try to make closure."

The ambassador said new forensics techniques could be used to examine the wreckage of the plane and that witnesses from that time have yet to be fully heard.

Investigators have never had full access to records from the US, Britain and other countries concerning the crash that occurred as Hammarskjold was on a peace mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo to broker a peace deal between the Kinshasa government and separatists in Katanga province.

The draft resolution co-sponsored by 41 countries, including Zambia, will be discussed by a General Assembly committee this week and will return for a vote to the plenary before the end of December.

Thoresson said he expected strong support for the resolution and that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon could then appoint the panel.

"The purpose of this resolution is thus to help shed new light on the circumstances surrounding the death of Dag Hammarskjold and those on board his flight, not only by bringing existing documents forward, but also by providing the conditions necessary to finally hear witnesses whose testimony has so far not been given due attention," the Swedish envoy told the Assembly.

In its report last year, the commission of inquiry called on the UN to reopen an investigation and asked the US National Security Agency to release cockpit recordings to confirm whether a mercenary fighter jet may have shot down the plane.

Fifteen people including Hammarskjold died when the DC-6, known as the Albertina, crashed as it came in to land ahead of a meeting between the UN's top official and Katanga leader Moise Tshombe.