From Leader to Figurehead: The Post of UN Secretary-General

Dag Hammarskjold a hero of the United Nations

Dag Hammarskjold, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations was a leader. It was not surprising that he should have become a seasoned academic and politician, since he was born to a family with roots in politics that spanned centuries. His own father, Hjalmar Hammarskjold, was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1914 to 1917. What is impressive is the vision and integrity that accompanied him throughout his career, particularly while Secretary-General of the United Nations. 

Hammarskjold succeeded Trygve Lie as UN Secretary-General in 1953, and he is widely considered responsible for having given the post a dynamic and unique quality. He died in a plane crash in September 1961, while on a delicate diplomatic mission and for his efforts was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Dag Hammarskjöld

Flying into a hornet's nest

Hammarskjold was on a peace mission to the Congo, shortly after its independence from Belgium, when his plane came down in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). It was a journey into a hornets nest. The former colonial power, backed by the US and Britain, were supporting the separatists from the Katanga Province and were determined that he should fail in order to protect their interests, especially mining, in that area. It is alleged that they eliminated him to stop him from succeeding.

An unlikely accident

Inquiries into Hammarskjold's death were vague and there were many contradictions in the official versions of events. Evidence to suggest foul play, however, has been springing up from very different sources ever since the unexplained "accident" happened, much of it from reliable sources. These include:

• witnesses to the actual disaster
• Hammarskjold's own nephew
• Desmond Tutu (when chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission) 
• independent investigations
• a friend of Van Risseghem, who claimed that the pilot confessed to shooting down the UN plane

The controversy continues, but one thing is certain, the crash did not only put an end to Hammarskjold's life. The wings were clipped of the nascent post of Secretary-General before it could even take flight. 

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