Secretary-General Welcomes Submission of Report by Panel on Death of Hammarskjöld

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General is pleased to announce that the Independent Panel of Experts, appointed by him pursuant to General Assembly resolution 69/246 to examine and assess new information relating to the tragic death of the former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and of the members of the party accompanying him, has now submitted its report on its findings, conclusions and recommendations.

The Secretary-General wishes to thank the Head of the Panel, Chief Justice Mohamed Chande Othman of the United Republic of Tanzania, and the other members of the Panel, Kerryn Macaulay of Australia and Henrik Larsen of Denmark, for their important contribution to the ongoing search for the truth about the conditions and circumstances related to the tragic death of the late Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, and the members of the party accompanying him on that fateful night of 17-18 September 1961.

The Secretary-General is pleased that the Panel visited Zambia to meet with new witnesses, and that it successfully gathered additional new information from Member States and other sources, including national and private archives in Belgium, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The Secretary-General will study the report carefully and expeditiously, and, subject to any considerations of a medical or private nature, will make the report of the Panel, as well as his own assessment and options on the way forward, available to Member States and the public as soon as possible.