The UN Secretary-General has transmitted to the President of the General Assembly the latest report on the investigation into the death of former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York on Wednesday (November 4). The Secretary-General's letter is accompanied by the report of the Eminent Person, former Tanzanian chief justice Mohamed Chande Othman, and is publicly available as a General Assembly document (A/80/815), according to the UN's noon briefing highlights.

Source: UNifeed (UN)

Hammarskjold died with 15 members of his party on the night of 17/18 September 1961, when his flight crashed at Ndola in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, during the Congo crisis. The General Assembly reopened the investigation in 2014, and the Secretary-General said he was encouraged that significant advancements in the body of knowledge have been made since then — and continue to be made under Othman's recent mandate.

Source: UNifeed (UN)

16People killed in the Ndola crash — Hammarskjold and 15 members of his party
17/18 Sep 1961The night the flight went down at Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)
2014When the UN General Assembly reopened the investigation
65 yearsHow long after the crash the UN says undisclosed material information almost certainly still exists

What the new mandate added

Dujarric said the Eminent Person's recent work had advanced knowledge in five areas: the possible involvement of mercenary pilots or other agents in a deliberate act against Hammarskjold's flight; the possible type of aircraft used in any such act; the presence and role of foreign actors; information relating to search and rescue; and expert aviation analysis.

Source: UNifeed (UN)

The central assessment itself is unchanged. The Secretary-General noted that the Eminent Person's assessment remains that it is plausible an external attack or threat was a cause of the crash, and that the alternative feasible hypotheses are sabotage and unintentional human error.

Source: UNifeed (UN)

What is solid

  • The report was transmitted to the General Assembly President on November 4 as document A/80/815, the UN said
  • The Eminent Person is Mohamed Chande Othman, former Chief Justice of Tanzania
  • Hammarskjold and 15 others died in the Ndola crash on the night of 17/18 September 1961

What is only claimed

  • What brought the aircraft down — an external attack or threat is assessed as plausible, not proven; sabotage and unintentional human error remain alternative hypotheses
  • Whether member states are withholding decisive records — the Eminent Person says undisclosed material information almost certainly exists, but no state has been named as holding a specific document

'Almost certain' that undisclosed information exists

The Secretary-General noted the Eminent Person's assessment that it is almost certain that material information exists that has not been disclosed by member states, and called on all member states to provide relevant information and ensure comprehensive access to their archives, 65 years after the crash. International Intrigue's November 5 briefing summarised the same finding — that a fresh UN-mandated assessment concludes an external attack 'appears plausible' — and noted the report's implication that some states have still not fully declassified what they hold from that night.

Source: International Intrigue (summarising the UN report)

What happens next: Dujarric said the Secretary-General supports Othman's recommendation that the United Nations appoint an independent person to continue the work, after the Eminent Person's most recent mandate concluded at the end of the General Assembly's eightieth session in September. Until archives are opened, the UN's position is that one of the Cold War's most famous unsolved deaths remains exactly that — unsolved, but no longer written off as a simple accident.