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Photo: Pixabay
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A document classified as “top secret” by French writer and journalist Morin Picard reveals that the OAS (Organization de l’armee secrete), an illegal far-right paramilitary movement opposed to Algerian independence, has issued UN Secretary-General Doug Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in Africa in 1961 under as-yet-unclear circumstances.
Pilot error? Failed to deviate from the course? Take off the plane? 60 years later, the mystery still exists, and a final report from the UN investigation is expected in September. Numerous lines of investigation have emerged in the case, including spies, mercenaries and industrialists, BTA reported.
Author of the 2019 book “They Killed Mr. H.”, Picard recently unveiled the OAS document. This is a facsimile of a letter in the files of the former Secretary of African Affairs at the Elysee Palace Jacques Focard, stored in the French National Archives.
The letter, seen by AFP, was addressed to the Swede Hammarskjöld. It has the letter X, surrounded by blue, and a red stamp for “top secret”. The text sharply criticizes several aspects of his policy pursued against the background of general decolonization.
Written in Paris, the letter states that the then head of the UN was “sentenced to death” by the governing body of the SAS for his actions, after finding that it was necessary to put an end to his harmful interference in world affairs. This sentence, in accordance with justice and fairness, will be carried out “as soon as possible”, the letter from the end of July 1961 states.
The plane carrying Hammarskjöld, 56, along with 15 others, crashed on September 18, 1961 in what was then Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. The Secretary-General was to negotiate a ceasefire in the mineral-rich Katanga.
This province seceded in July 1960, after declaring independence from the former Belgian Congo. Hammarskjöld’s other goal was to get the Blue Helmets out of a dangerous situation.
The UN investigation into the circumstances of the crash was resumed in 2015-16, following the discovery of new data, and the world body decided not to abandon the hypothesis of an air attack. In 2019, investigators deplored the lack of cooperation from the United States, Britain and the Republic of South Africa to shed light on the affair.
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