Dag Hammarskjöld, the United Nations and Africa

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Acknowledgements

This is the revised version of a paper presented at the Conference ‘Dag Hammarskjöld, the United Nations, and the end of empire’ organised by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Studies, University of London, the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and the United Nations Association (Westminster Branch) at the University of London on 2 September 2011. I am grateful for the suggestions by an anonymous reviewer, which helped to improve the text.

Notes

‘Airport statement on return from African trip’, UN Press Release SG/895, 31 January 1960, in Cordier and Foote 1975b, p. 522.

‘From transcript of press conference’, UN Note to Correspondents no. 2108, 4 February 1960, in Cordier and Foote 1975b, p. 525.

‘The world and the nation – commencement address at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, 19 June 1955’, UN Press Release SG/426, 18 June 1955, in Cordier and Foote 1975a, p. 512.

‘From transcript of press conference’, in Cordier and Foote 1975b, pp. 533–534.

‘Statement at the second session of the Economic Commission for Africa, Tangier, Morocco, 26 January 1960’, UN Press Release SG/890, 25 January 1960, in Cordier and Foote 1975b, p. 517.

‘Asia, Africa, and the West – address before the Academic Association of the University of Lund, Lund, Sweden, 4 May 1959’, UN Press Release SG/813, 4 May 1959, in Cordier and Foote 1974, p. 381.

‘The UN – its ideologies and activities’, in Cordier and Foote 1975a, p. 668.

‘1. Statement in the Economic and Social Council introducing debate on the world economic situation’, UN Press Release SG/493, 16 July 1956, in Cordier and Foote 1973.

‘Introduction to the sixteenth annual report’, 17 August 1961, in Cordier and Foote 1975b, p. 544.

Hammarskjöld defended his PhD with no less a person than Gunnar Myrdal as disputant, who disagreed with Hammarskjöld's arguments, but advocated awarding the highest mark for the undisputable quality of his analyses.

‘Last words to the staff – from remarks on staff day’, 8 September 1961, in Cordier and Foote 1975b, p. 564.

See for this critical position Ludo de Witte, The assassination of Lumumba (London: Verso, 2001).

Second Statement after Soviet demand for his dismissal, 13 February 1961, in Cordier and Foote 1975b.

See for this period and the unusual blunt intervention the comprehensive documentation in Madeleine Kalb (1982, pp. 274–276).

See for a critical analysis that shifts the blame from Hammarskjöld to some of his closest assistants, some of the chapters in Hill and Keller (2010).

For a concise overview on the different theories see Manuel Fröhlich (2008, pp. 27–33). See, as the latest, most coherent and comprehensive effort to explore the dubious aspects of the plane crash, Williams (2011).