A British-trained Belgian mercenary admitted the killing of Dag Hammarskjöld
3 replies, posted
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/12/former-raf-pilot-shot-down-un-chief-dag-hammarskjold-1961-plane
Bit of old news but I didn't see this posted
Hammarskjöld’s death happened amid a post-colonial race for resources in Africa.
On his final flight, he was heading for a secret meeting to broker an
end to the civil war in recently independent Congo, mineral-rich and on
the brink of collapse.
The eastern province of Katanga, home to most of the country’s vast
deposits of ore – including the uranium ore used to make the bomb that
America dropped on Hiroshima – and source of much of the country’s
income, had declared independence the previous year.
Rebel leader Moïse Tshombe had covert military and technical backing
from the Belgian government, the former colonial power, and support from
western mining firms with interests in the area. Hammarskjöld believed
the UN had a duty to intervene because Katanga’s secession posed an
existential threat to Congo.
A champion of decolonisation and an implacable idealist who believed
the UN should be protector and platform for small countries, he
over-ruled the reservations of the UN’s legal adviser to order military
action to end the rebellion, infuriating Britain and the US. But UN
troops had been outmanoeuvred and a group were now under siege. In a bid
to end the standoff and the conflict, Hammarskjöld was flying to a
secret meeting with Tshombe when he died.
Why I'm not surprised. At this point every political conspiration of the West during the Cold War is going to be true, after some years ago was confirmed about the Iran coup as well.
The entire Congo crisis was such a tragedy.
Another key figure that was likely killed with the help of the West(or at least Belgium) was Patrice Lumumba(one of the key figures of Pan-African nationalism) who initially asked for assistance from the US and UN in suppressing the Katangan separatists, but after being rejected by both he turned to the USSR.
Virtually immediately after getting assistance from the USSR, he was dismissed from the position of Prime Minister by the President at the time, and quickly arrested and killed by the soon to be military dictator, Joseph Mobutu(who was supported by, surprise, Belgium and the US).
Wow shit. Arma 2 PMC was right.
Basically near the ending if you're an asshole you do this exact same thing. Almost for the same reasons, too.
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