Press statement by the Enabling Committee
on the launch of the inquiry

The Press release as pdf (including annexes)

(Please note that this is not an initiative by the Foundation. Our Executive Director Henning Melber is on the Enabling Committee in his individual capacity as are the other members of the Committee.)

An Enabling Committee chaired by Lord Lea of Crondall, which includes former Commonwealth Secretary-General H. E. Chief Emeka Anyaoku and former Archbishop of Sweden KG Hammar, have announced the setting up of a distinguished Commission of Jurists to inquire into the cause of the death of Dag Hammarskjöld, who served as the second UN Secretary-General from 1953 until his tragic death in 1961. Hammarskjöld is widely regarded as the best Secretary General to have led the United Nations. ‘His unimpeachable integrity and single-minded devotion to duty,’ stated Kofi Annan, ‘have set a standard for all servants of the international community.’

The members of the Commission of Jurists are: The Rt. Hon. Sir Stephen Sedley of the UK (Chair); Ambassador Hans Corell of Sweden; Justice Richard Goldstone of South Africa; and Judge Wilhelmina Thomassen of The Netherlands. See Annex A.

Flying on a UN mission to try to bring peace to the Congo, Dag Hammarskjöld’s Swedish-owned and crewed plane crashed near Ndola airport in the British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), on the night of 17-18 September 1961. All but one of the passengers and crew were killed. Eight months earlier, Patrice Lumumba had been assassinated in Katanga, on the other side of the Rhodesian border, which had illegally declared its secession from the newly-independent Congo.

Questions were immediately asked about the crash of Hammarskjöld’s plane. Why did the sole survivor say that the plane ‘blew up’ before it crashed? Why did local residents report seeing a smaller second plane attack a larger one that night? Why was the wreckage not found officially for 15 hours, though only 8 miles from the airport?

In the view of the Enabling Committee, these questions have never been satisfactorily resolved, despite several inquiries, including a UN Commission of Inquiry in 1961-62 which reached an open verdict. See Annex B.

Lord Lea explained the reason why the Commission is being set up now and why, in the view of the Enabling Committee, it is timely:

”There is prima facie evidence from a book published in 2011, Who Killed Hammarskjöld? by Susan Williams, and from other sources, that there is new information that ought to be evaluated. That is why the Enabling Committee have invited a commission of very senior and distinguished Jurists to investigate whether there is a case for action by the UN under General Assembly resolution 1759 (XVII). See Annex C.

Why are we doing this? Because we believe that the whole of the truth, in significant respects, has yet to be told. There is now, I think, a following wind behind us in setting up the Commission at this time.”

H. E. Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Commonwealth Secretary-General, commented:

“I think that it would be of very great interest to many in the Commonwealth to clear the air on this question, which has been in the background for such a long time, with such a distinguished Commission of Jurists.”

Dr KG Hammar, former Archbishop of Sweden, stated:

“In December 2011 I spent a week in Zambia. I was introduced to people who witnessed what took place on the night of 17 September 1961 in Ndola, and who told me they believed they had seen Hammarskjöld’s plane being shot at in the sky. Like Dag Hammarskjöld’s nephew, the late Knut Hammarskjöld, I think it is finally time to clear this matter up.”

It is proposed that the Commission of Jurists should review the substantive evidence, including the evidence which has recently emerged, in order to determine whether there is a case for re-opening the UN Inquiry of 1961-62. If the evidence is found to warrant re-opening the UN Inquiry, it will be presented to the United Nations, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 1759 (XVII), which requests the Secretary-General to inform the General Assembly of ‘any new evidence which may come to his attention’(1962). See Annex C.

The Enabling Committee are very pleased that such a distinguished Commission has now been established, with today’s formal announcement, and it is hoped that the inquiry will reach its conclusions within a year. The Enabling Committee have set up a fund and additional funding is being sought.

The Enabling Committee
Chair: Lord Lea of Crondall OBE*
H. E. Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Commonwealth Secretary-General
Dr KG Hammar, former Archbishop of Sweden
Dr Henning Melber, Executive Director, Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Uppsala; Professor, University of Pretoria
Professor Naison Ngoma, Director, Dag Hammarskjöld Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, Copperbelt University, Kitwe, Zambia
Hans Kristian Simensen, Gothenburg, Sweden
Dr Susan Williams, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

*LORD (David) LEA was Assistant General Secretary of the UK Trades Union Congress 1979-99. He has been a member of the House of Lords since 1999 and Co-founder and Vice-Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Africa since 2002. He served as an election monitor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2007.

Lord Lea’s contact details:
Office 00 44 (0) 207 219 8158; Crondall 00 44 (0) 1252 850 711

The Press release as pdf (including annexes)