Plane Went Down On A 1961 Peace Mission To Congo

An independent panel of experts appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has delivered a report that examined a 1961 accident which fatally injured then-Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld.

Hammarskjöld was on a peace mission to the newly-independent Republic of Congo when the DC-6 he was aboard went down in the African bush in Northern Rhodesia, which is now called Zambia. One of the issues the panel was charged with investigating was whether the plane was shot down.

In a statement posted on the UN website, The Secretary-General said the panel had submitted its report on its findings, conclusions and recommendations.

"The Secretary-General wishes to thank the Head of the Panel, Chief Justice Mohamed Chande Othman of the United Republic of Tanzania, and the other members of the Panel, Kerryn Macaulay of Australia and Henrik Larsen of Denmark, for their important contribution to the ongoing search for the truth about the conditions and circumstances related to the tragic death of the late Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, and the members of the party accompanying him on that fateful night of 17-18 September 1961," Ban Ki-moon wrote.

"The Secretary-General is pleased that the Panel visited Zambia to meet with new witnesses, and that it successfully gathered additional new information from Member States and other sources, including national and private archives in Belgium, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

"The Secretary-General will study the report carefully and expeditiously, and, subject to any considerations of a medical or private nature, will make the report of the Panel, as well as his own assessment and options on the way forward, available to Member States and the public as soon as possible."

FMI: www.un.org