The quintessential martyr, Dag Hammarskjold (1905 - 61) - The former UN Secretary General in the eye of storms

The afternoon with Kofi Annan [at the Movenpick Hotel, Accra, August 20, 2017] brought back memories of the significance of the second United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden. The event got me to revisit and appreciate the life of the latter through the following three books among my prized collection: Dag Hammarskjold’s United Nations by Mark W. Zacher; Hammarskjold by Brian Urquhart; and Markings by Dag Hammarskjold himself.

I had previously marked an excerpt in Kofi Annan’s memoirs Interventions: A Life in War and Peace in which he wrote, “The second secretary-general of the UN, Dag Hammarskjold, institutionalised a practice called ‘peacekeeping.’ Hammarskjold recognised the need to contain the threat posed by these local conflicts and to stabilise them as quickly as possible, to insulate the risk of escalation to a global crisis, or worse, nuclear war. International, neutral troops were to be used to supervise the cease-fire lines between former belligerents following cessations in hostilities, enhancing trust across the divide and so defusing tensions between previously warring parties. It was a form of ‘preventive diplomacy,’ as he called it.’”

I recalled also a note from As I Saw It: A Secretary of State’s Memoirs by Dean Rusk who served in the John F. Kennedy administration from 1960, and was previously involved in the Marshall Plan, and the formation of NATO. Rusk wrote. “The way that the UN is set up, much depends upon the secretary-general. I had the highest regard for Trygve Lie and Dag Hammarskjold because they took the UN Charter as their Bible. Hammarskjold was exactly what we wanted a secretary-general to be: strong, forceful, and utterly committed to the UN Charter.”

[Trygve Lie (1896 – 1968) was elected the first secretary-general of the UN in 1946, but resigned in 1952. He was succeeded by Hammarskjold who served till his death in 1961.]

The Irish poet, W.H. Auden, was most discerning in his foreword to Dag Hammarskjold’s book, Markings. He noted that from generations of soldiers and government officials on the father’s side, Hammarskjöld inherited “a belief that no life was more satisfactory than one of selfless service to your country or humanity. This service required a sacrifice of all personal interests, but likewise the courage to stand up unflinchingly for your convictions.”

From scholars and clergymen on the mother’s side, he inherited “a belief that, in the very radical sense of the Gospels, all men were equals as children of God, and should be met and treated by us as our masters. Faith is a state of the mind and soul.” Ralph Bunche once described him as “the most remarkable man I have ever seen or worked with.” Bunche was an American political scientist and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize.

As secretary general, Hammarskjold interacted with a wide range of people including refugees and victims of war and disaster. So it was that in the heated events before, between and after the independence struggles of many African countries, Hammarskjöld stood in the storms desperately warding off the tensions between various western countries and the Soviet bloc all with peculiar interests to gain major positions in the mineral riches of Africa, and not wanting to let go. The Congo crises particularly tested his mettle where in the struggles during the riots for a Katanga secession, the prime minister of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, was captured by mercenaries, tortured and killed.
Kwame Nkrumah was to become so deeply involved in the Congo crises, especially the intended revolt for a Katanga secession. Nkrumah supported Patrice Lumumba like a dear brother and criticised the insidious role of the imperial powers.
Hammarskjold, invariably, gave his life through such struggles and was killed in a freak plane accident near Ndola, Rhodesia (Now Zambia) trying to quell the looming disasters during the Congo crises. For his commitment, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961 after his death in September, while he was engaged in negotiations over the Congo crises.

In 1927, Hammarskjöld had studied Economics at Cambridge under John Maynard Keynes. He rejected the idea of becoming a theoretical economist in favour of more practical work, and served as Sweden’s representative to the Paris Conference at which the Marshall Plan was hatched.

With a deep sense of the inequality of nations, in terms of both opportunity and actual position, he was determined to preserve and develop the possibilities of the UN system in this role. Considering how other nationals fought to help Africa’s emancipation, the depravation in Africa today - caused in many cases by the lack of concern by the African leaders themselves - is ironic and mind boggling. How does one begin to square the deplorable truth that  international Non. Governmental organisations (NGOs) come to drill boreholes, build schools and toilets in parts of Africa including Ghana?

W.H. Auden noted in his foreword that the following poem was the last piece of writing by Hammarskjöld:

“Is it a new country

In another world of reality …?

Or did I live there before …?

I awoke to an ordinary morning

[I] Remembered other dreams

Of the same mountain country:

Twice I stood on its summits,

I stayed by its remotest lake,

And followed the river

Towards its source.

The seasons have changed

And the light

And the weather

And the hour.

But it is the same land

And I begin to know the map

And to get my bearings.”

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