New Photographs from the Hammarskjold Plane Crash Surface

Adrian Begg was just a 20-year-old officer with the Northern Rhodesian Police when he found himself at the crash site of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane near Ndola, Zambia. Begg’s own photographs of the crash have surfaced following the publication of Susan Williams’ book, Who Killed Hammarskjöld? The UN, the Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa, along with a spate of new evidence.

Begg has supplied his personal account of what happened at the crash:

It began as a normal, quiet Sunday shift at Ndola’s central police station, where I had been stationed as a young assistant inspector since completing my training six months earlier – but it soon became obvious there was something big on the go. Officers were being called in from home, and in the early afternoon I was sent with a squad of other officers to secure Ndola Airport and put it in security lockdown in readiness for VIP arrivals. The word quickly spread among us that Dag Hammarskjöld was expected.

My job was to secure the airport car park, outside the perimeter fence, and at one point I was ordered to stop the waiting media posse from following Katanga’s rebel leader Moise Tshombe, who was being taken to a nearby government residence to await Hammarskjöld’s arrival. As Tshombe’s car swept past I used the simple tactic of driving a police Land Rover across the road, forming an effective blockade which brought the media convoy to a screeching halt. It wasn’t a popular move – a couple of the journalists were mates of mine.

• Complete article: Hurst Blog

Book details

• Who Killed Hammarskjöld? The UN, the Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa by Susan Williams
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  EAN: 9781431402984
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