UN poised to open new inquiry into 1961 Dag Hammarskjold crash

The United Nations' general assembly is set to approve a fresh inquiry into the death of the organisation's secretary general, Dag Hammarskjold, in a 1961 airplane crash.

Sweden was yesterday scheduled to present a resolution to the assembly calling for an independent panel of experts to look at one of the great political mysteries of the 1960s: why a plane carrying a famous diplomats came down over what is now Zambia, but was then the British colony of Northern Rhodesia. The resolution cites the emergence of new evidence and calls for the UN panel to examine it "and to assess its probative value". It also appeals to governments to release documents about the Hammarskjold crash that have remained secret.

"I would expect a consensus decision to be taken, so it would be passed by acclamation," Annika Soder, the state secretary in the Swedish foreign ministry, said. "I can't seen anyone being against steps for getting clarification." Soder said there could be a delay in earmarking the necessary funds for a panel of experts - initially about US$300,000, but that should only take a further week. Once established, the panel could request crucial documents about the crash from the US National Security Agency (NSA), the CIA, as well as still-classified records held by the UK and other European states.

The plane in which Hammarskjold and his staff were travelling crashed near the town of Ndola while the UN secretary general was trying to broker a peace deal between the Congolese government in Kinshasa and separatists in the mineral-rich southern province of Katanga backed by mining corporations and mercenaries.

A 1962 report by the British colonial authorities in Rhodesia blamed the crash on pilot error but offered no proof.

A UN inquiry returned an open verdict.