The Hammarskjöld Plane Crash

2013/02/01 by Göran Björkdahl, Jacob Phiri · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Commission #Computer science #Crash #Criminology #Genealogy #Global Peace and Security Dynamics #History #Law #Negotiation #Political science #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1080/13533312.2013.763681

openalex publication_date 2013/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

Dag Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash on 17 September 1961 on route to Ndola, Zambia, to negotiate an end to fighting between UN troops and the break-away Katanga army. The Rhodesian-led inquiry commission in 1961–62 concluded that a pilot error caused the crash while the UN commission in 1962 was inconclusive. These commissions neglected to actively search for Zambian witnesses of black African origin and neglected the testimonies from those that were heard. A systematic search during 2007–12 identified ten previously unknown Zambian eye witnesses whose testimonies provide sufficient new information to justify a new UN inquiry into the cause of the crash.

Cited by

• Dag Hammarskjöld [wikipedia]

Related

• After Morogoro: the continuing crisis in the African National Congress (of South Africa) in Zambia, 1969–1971
• Negotiating with Apartheid: The Mission of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group 1986
• Post-colonial Nation-building and Southern African Liberation: Tanzania and the Break of Diplomatic Relations with the United Kingdom, 1965–1968
• ‘A jigsaw puzzle which Britain finds difficult to solve’: Britain, Bophuthatswana and the Sun City Eight
• “Humanitarian ambition”