Today’s Guardian reports that new evidence has emerged in one of the most enduring mysteries of United Nations and African history, suggesting that the plane of the then UN secretary general, Dag Hammarskjöld, was shot down over Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) 50 years ago, and the murder covered up by the British colonial authorities.
Hammarskjöld is one of the eight great heroes whose story is part of the newly-released book “Heroes of the United Nations, men and women who made the world a better place” by Andreas S. von Warburg. The book includes also heroes like Sergio Vieira de Mello, Nadia Younes, Carlo Urbani, Helvi Sipila (for more info about the book click here).
According to the Guardian, a British-run commission of inquiry blamed the 1961 crash on pilot error, and a later UN investigation largely rubber-stamped its findings. They ignored or downplayed witness testimony of villagers near the crash site which suggested foul play. The Guardian has talked to surviving witnesses who were never questioned by the official investigations and were too scared to come forward.
Click here to read the entire article.
Great men course through history like an ocean wave toward some as yet unknown shore. While some seem not to find their way and others get lost, truly men great change the course of world history.
Today we remember two deaths, two lives, two men—both bound by one mission.
While Dag Hammarskjold died 50 years ago, Francisco d’Almeida was killed 500 years back; the former in the heart of Africa, the latter at the foot of the continent. Both deaths are shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Both men play their part in unravelling ‘KNOT OF STONE’.
http://www.knotofstone.com/blog/