The UN has requested that the NSA hand over intelligence intercepts from 1961 that could solve the mystery of what brought down the plane of UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld, killing all 16 passengers aboard:
Spy messages could finally solve mystery of UN chief’s death crash
That the former UN secretary-general died in a plane crash while on his way to negotiate a ceasefire in the breakaway African republic of Katanga, is well documented. But the cause of the crash remains to be established.
That proof may become available if the US National Security Agency (NSA) complies with a new request from the UN and hands over crucial intelligence intercepts that could confirm what brought down the Albertina DC6 in a forest near Ndola in northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in September 1961.
One passenger lived long enough to tell medical personnel that there had been "sparks in the sky" right before the crash, and rumors swirled that armed white men in combat fatigues were seen at the crash site. The day after the crash, former US president Harry Truman muttered darkly that Hammarskjöld "was on the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said 'when they killed him'."
Many countries had an interest in thwarting Hammarskjöld’s attempts to reunite Congo and stop Katanga seceding. Congo, which was receiving Soviet aid, had the world’s richest uranium resources. Mining firms feared their concessions would be jeopardised if Katanga’s bid for independence was not recognised. The KGB, the CIA and MI6 were all active in the country as they sought to secure their countries’ interests.
A report from a panel of distinguished international jurists, commissioned by the Hammarskjöld Inquiry Trust, chaired by Lord Lea of Crondall and submitted to the UN last year, heard suggestions “that a group representing a number of European political and business interests ... wanted the secretary-general’s plane diverted from Ndola ... in order to persuade him of the case for Katanga’s continued independence”....
[T]here are lurid claims that some on board, including Hammarskjöld himself, had bullet wounds, suggesting he had survived the crash but had been killed on the spot. His body was found propped up on a termite mound a short distance from the plane, surrounded by playing cards. Reputedly an ace of spades was found on his collar.
The UN believes the US has radio intercepts from one of its listening stations that will settle the question of whether there was another plane in the air nearby at the time and unravel the question of which of the nefarious parties with an interest in stopping Hammarskjöld's peace-keeping efforts was actually the one responsible for bringing him down.