Yahoo – AFP,
18 Nov 2015
United
Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations on Wednesday pressed demands
that the United States and Britain release secret files on the mysterious death
more than 50 years ago of former secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold.
Hammarskjold,
the UNâs second secretary-general, died when his plane
crashed on 17 or 18 September 1961 near Ndola in Northern Rhodesia -- now known
as Zambia.
A UN panel
said in July that it had uncovered new information pointing to the possibility
that his plane may have been attacked and suggested that answers may be found
in classified documents.
Requests
sent by the panel to the United States and Britain for the secret files were
turned down, but UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked for the information to
be released in July.
Ban's
request, however, was ignored and the UN chief renewed his appeal on Wednesday.
"There
is a possibility that unreleased material relating to the crash of flight
SE-BDY on the night between 17 and 18 September 1961 may still be
available," Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
"Therefore,
the secretary-general again urges all member states to disclose, declassify or
otherwise make available all information they may have in their possession
related to the circumstances and conditions of the crash," he said.
While no
country was singled out, UN officials confirmed that Britain and the United
States were rejecting requests for information on the Hammarskjold case.
The
mysterious circumstances of the crash has for years fueled conspiracy theories,
and the panel did ask Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, South Africa and the
United States for specific information.
The
56-year-old Swedish diplomat died in the plane crash while on his way to
negotiate a ceasefire for mining-rich Katanga province in what is now the
Democratic Republic of Congo, a former Belgian colony.
The UN
General Assembly adopted a resolution in December last year demanding that
Hammarskjold's fate be cleared up once and for all.
Dujarric
said Ban is "personally invested in fulfilling our duty to the
distinguished former secretary-general and those who accompanied him, to
endeavor to establish the facts after so many years."
The General
Assembly is due to present a new draft resolution on Thursday demanding more
action to shed light on the former UN chief's fate.
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