Who Killed Hammarskjold? The UN, the Cold War and white supremacy in Africa

This engaging book marks a concerted effort to explore the historical mysteries that shroud the UN Secretary-General's death in a plane crash near the then Northern Rhodesian town of Ndola in September 1961. Fifty years after Dag Hammarskjöld's fateful visit to Central Africa, many questions remain unanswered as to the cause of his death. Susan Williams sets out to examine these questions, and the unfolding story which she skilfully depicts is one of subterfuge, deception, and conspiracy. In 1961, Hammarskjöld, in his role as UN Secretary-General, visited Central Africa to help resolve the chaos of Belgian decolonization in the Congo, with the aim of bringing peace to the region. In July 1960 Moise Tshombe, backed by Belgium, multinational mining interests, and white mercenaries, declared the mineral-rich province of Katanga independent. This act of secession prompted Congolese President, Patrice Lumumba, to seek active UN assistance. Hammarskjöld, a principled leader and a champion of African decolonization, who had also tried to keep the UN as a beacon of neutrality during the Cold War, decided to act. The UN's subsequent involvement resulted in the organization becoming embroiled in a political and military conflict, pitted against powerful Western interests (mainly French and British) and the white minority regimes of Southern Africa. His perceived meddling in the region was met with undisguised hostility by these vested interests, many of whom wanted Hammarskjöld removed from the equation; the plot thickens when one discovers that after his death ‘whites in Southern Africa rejoiced’ (p. 81).

Ancient history · Colonialism · Decolonization · Economic history · Ethnology · Neutrality · Political science · Politics · Sociology · White (mutation) · White supremacy · African history and culture studies · Gender Studies · History · Law