UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s trip to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo this
week reminds me of the death of the second UN Secretary General, Dag
Hammarskjold. Both traveled to the region
to seek peace between UN, government, and breakaway groups in eastern Congo.
It was 52 years ago, on 18 September 1961, that the plane
carrying UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold crashed
while traveling in eastern Congo.
Hammarskjold had come to the region to facilitate peace talks between
UN peacekeepers and Congolese fighting for the independence of the breakaway
Katanga province. Some reports suggested
the Secretary’s plane was shot
down by mercenaries paid by Katangan separatists.
Now Secretary Ban Ki-Moon is traveling to the
Kivus to try arrange a peace deal with M23,
an rebel group reinforced with deserters from the Congolese military. The UN has agreed to send in more UN troops as
an “Intervention
Brigade” to try to force
a peace in the region. On this trip
the Secretary General was welcomed with rocket attacks and intensified fighting
between the military and M23. Hopefully he will make it out of the country
alive.
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