With gratitude to Susan Williams for her most recent essay, published in The Yale Review, “Revisiting Dag Hammarskjold’s Mysterious Death”, here is a larger selection of international papers from my archive, 19-27 September 1961. Harold Julien was the only survivor of the Albertina crash, and for too long his testimony has been undervalued and deliberately suppressed, it is time to take his evidence seriously.
From her essay: “In 2019, new information emerged relating to Julien’s stay in the Ndola hospital, provided by the government of Zimbabwe to the current U.N. inquiry. This fresh information reveals that Rhodesian authorities actively sought to prevent Julien’s statements from being made public. A senior Rhodesian intelligence official instructed Julien’s medical superintendent that “no one of his hospital staff must talk about this,” in relation to Julien’s statements that he had seen sparks in the sky. The superintendent and another doctor were warned about “the security angle” and asked “to make sure that none of their staff talked.
“Justice Othman views this new evidence as significant. In his view, “a general undervaluing of the evidence of Harold Julien…may have affected the exhaustiveness of the earlier inquiries’ consideration of the possible hypotheses.”
Daily Mail, 19 December 1961 “Airline mystery of flashes in the sky – Dag’s last command – UN chief told pilot to change course”Daily Mail, September 19 “Sergeant Harold Julian, of the United States, a security guard on the plane, who was the lone survivor, said there was a series of explosions in the plane. Sergeant Julian, lying seriously injured and burned in Ndola Hospital, also said Mr. Hammarskjold changed his mind about landing at Ndola and told the pilot to alter course for another destination.” […] “Police in Ndola saw a huge flash in the sky just before the crash. […] “Officials of Transair, the Swedish charter company which owned the plane, said in Leopoldville that they believed the aircraft was shot down by a Katanga jet fighter. A UN spokeman said he could not definitely rule out sabotage or shooting down as the cause of the crash. He said Mr. Hammarskjold was flying at night to avoid the two jet planes in Katanga’s Air Force which for days have been straffing UN troops and bombing their airfields.”Daily Mail, September 19 ” “Overdue procedure” was started. Checks were made at Congolese and Rhodesian towns. At dawn an all-out search began. But an African charcoal burner was the first man to find the smouldering wreckage. Then the pilot of a Rhodesian Air Force Provost plane saw the DC-6 and guided rescuers to the scene.”
From Williams’ essay: “[…]the 1961-62 official inquiries concluded that the first sighting of the crash site was at 3:10 p.m. on September 18 by a RRAF pilot flying overhead; at around the same time, there was a report of a sighting by the two aforementioned charcoal burners. Following these reports, police vehicles and ambulances were immediately sent to the site.
“But a mass of evidence has emerged that shows that many people knew that the plane had crashed – and where – long before it was officially located. Indeed, the crash site was reported to the Northern Rhodesian authorities between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. by Timothy Kankasa. Some charcoal burners had come across the burning plane in the morning and, in great concern, rushed to tell him. The men reported the crash to him, rather than to the police, because they mistrusted and feared the white authorities.”
Daily Mail, September 19 “Colonel Don Gaylor, U.S. Air Attache in Pretoria, who flew over the area helping to guide search parties, said he believed the crash took place between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. It seemed clear that the pilot was making a direct approach to the airfield when he crashed, said Colonel Gaylor.”
From Williams’ essay: “[…] Colonel Don G. Gaylor […] was sent to Ndola on September 15 by the Pentagon.[…] Gaylor was one of three U.S. air attaches who are known to have flown to Ndola airport during the period of September 15-18. […] According to a letter Gaylor wrote to an official Swedish investigator in 1994 (a letter I was recently sent by Hans Kristian Simensen, a Norwegian researcher who, like me, is assisting Justice Othman on a voluntary basis), Gaylor was in the control tower at Ndola airport on the night of September 17-18, waiting for Hammarskjold’s aircraft. The letter states that after the plane failed to arrive, he and his crew prepared for takeoff at first light to look for a crash site. Gaylor wrote that he spotted the wreckage shortly after dawn and immediately contacted the “Ndola rescue frequency and gave them the map coordinates of the site.” His letter adds: “Then I circled the site for a considerable period to give the ground party a point of reference.” This account is consistent with Gaylor’s memoir.”
“It should be noted that there is a discrepancy between this claim by Gaylor and a report by Matlick to the U.S. Secretary of State on September 22, which states that Gaylor had wanted to search in the morning but was not allowed to do so by the Rhodesian civil authorities. Matlick adds that Gaylor flew the second aircraft to spot the crash site in the afternoon, following a sighting by a RRAF aircraft; this was echoed by Squadron Leader John Mussell in his testimony to the Rhodesian Board of Investigation.
“Without further documentary evidence, we cannot resolve these conflicting pieces of evidence, or verify Gaylor’s claim that he found the crash site shortly after dawn. This makes it all the more important to obtain and study the report that Gaylor said he sent to the Pentagon: “My report to my superiors in the Pentagon was acknowledged with some accolades.”
Daily Express, September 19 “…The survivor is identified as an American sergeant with the UNO forces, Harold Julian[sic]. He is severly burned. His report of explosions in the plane supports the theory of sabotage. Another theory is that it was shot down by a jet fighter from Katanga. […] Practically all the bodies were burned. Only Mr. Hammarskjold was immediately recognisable. Incredibly Sergeant Julian was still alive. He had lain all those hours in agony. Tonight hospital doctors give him a a “fair” chance of life.”
From Williams’ essay: “On Tuesday, September 19, the day after Julien had been taken to the hospital, he was “slightly better.” Though “still dangerously ill,” he was expected to survive. A day later, he was reported as “holding his own.”
Daily Express, 19 September, page 2. “1,800 aircraft men threaten strike. A meeting of 1,800 workers at the De Havilland factory at Portsmouth decided yesterday to strike as soon as redundancy notices are issued. About 1,500 are likely to become redundant soon, according to the management.”
From Susan Williams’ book “Who Killed Hammarskjold?”, pages 186 and 187:
“[Bo] Virving stated that there were five [De Havilland] Doves in service of the Katangese air force in September 1961 at Kolwezi and Jadotville airports. They could stay airborne for three or four hours and their speed could match that of Hammarskjold’s DC6 in level flight; and in a dive from above they could increase their speed. It would be possible for the crew of the Dove to drop a small explosive device on to an aircraft below, then pull out of the dive. Virving had developed this theory about a Dove because on the day that Hammarskjold’s body was flown out to Sweden, he had seen a Dove at Ndola airport and discovered that it had a hole in its floor, which was apparently used for aerial photography. A man could lie there, he realized, telling the pilot ‘right, left, up, down’ and at a given moment let fall a small projectile.
“The theory that a Dove could be used in this way was later confirmed by Mercenary Commander, the memoir of the mercenary Jerry Puren[…]
“The Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry Report acknowledged that a Dove with bombing capacity was found in September 1961 at Ndola–but after the crash. ‘One De Havilland Dove belonging to the Katanga Government,’ it stated, ‘was after the 18th September armed by removing a door and placing a machine gun on the floor to fire through the opening.’ The Dove had not, it stated, been at Ndola on the day of the crash, but elsewhere: ‘On 17th September this and possibly another were in the hands of the United Nations at Elisabethville. Three Doves were then in the Republic of South Africa undergoing examination.’
“A Dove plane at Ndola also caused consternation at the British Embassy in Leopoldville in the week after the crash of the Albertina. Ambassador Riches sent a telegram to the Foreign Office on 24 September 1961, reporting that, according to Matlick, the U.S. Air Attache in Leopoldville who had just returned from Ndola, a Dove aircraft with Katangan air force markings had taken off from Ndola for Kolwezi the day before, carrying mercenaries. He had given this information to the UN, who had passed it on to Riches. ‘Report could do us serious damage here,’ warned Riches to London.
“Virving’s suspicions about the use of a Dove against the Albertina were heightened when he went to Elisabethville in 1962 and found that the Katangese Doves had disappeared during the August 1961 UN action to expel mercenaries. Significantly, their logbooks had been left behind. Then Virving found the Pretoria workshop where the Doves would normally have been serviced and sought information ‘for historical purposes’; but after two years’ wait he was told that no information could be given.”
Daily Express, September 19. Not everyone in the press was singing the praises of Hammarskjold, certainly not George Gale, who seems to be not only a white supremacist and supporter of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, but also a homophobe. He writes of Hammarskjold: “He loved mountains and had good paintings on his austere walls. He read poetry, especially the writings of Rilke and of T.S. Eliot.”L’AURORE, September 19 “The Death of Mr. H, whose plane crashed in the Rhodesian bush(only one survivor, who spoke of explosions on board).”L’AURORE September 19 “A burning plane. Tall columns of smoke. This was yesterday, in Elisabethville at war. A Fouga of the Katangese forces had just passed, shooting at the control tower, and at the planes in the parking lot. Hit, a United Nations DC-4 burns. Did the same Fouga shoot at Mr. H’s aircraft?”L’AURORE September 19. The headline erroneously reports: “Mr. H is burned to death in his airplane tomb in Rhodesia” […] “There were several explosions before the crash of the Swedish DC-6, recounts the sole survivor”International Edition of The NYT, September 19. This article refers to Colonel Don Taylor, which is a typo for Don Gaylor, saying that he “circled the wreck area until ground parties reach it shortly after 3 P.M.” On the front page of this edition of the NYT, it reports “Lone Survivor Reports Explosions on Flight to Tshombe Talks” and that “Officials quoted Mr. Julian[sic] as having said that Mr. Hammarskjold had changed his mind about landing at Ndola and that he had told the pilot to alter course for another destination. Moments later, according to the injured man, there was a series of explosions aboard the plane. Hospital authorities said Mr. Julian was in serious condition.”International Edition of the NYT, September 19International Edition of the NYT, September 19Paris-presse l’intransigeant, September 19. This publication does not mention Harold Julien by name or the testimony he gave to hospital staff in Ndola, reporting only that “Another person not yet identified was found seriously injured.”European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 19European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 19. This article reports the testimony of Harold Julien, without mentioning his name, only that he was “a UN security guard whose name was not released.”Paris-presse l’intransigeant, September 20. Headline: “Mr. H had been dead a few hours. The Katangese Fouga Magister attacks the headquarters of the O.N.U. in Elisabethville.” Text below photo: “The Fouga-Magister is made in France.”France-Soir, September 20France-Soir, September 20France-Soir, September 20. Rarely seen photos of Captain Per Hallonquist and Karl Erik Rosen.France-Soir, September 20 “Three Belgians and a Congolese were reportedly arrested in Leopoldville yesterday evening. They would be accused of having given information concerning flight plans of the O.N.U.” France-Soir, September 20. Many papers reported on the assassination of Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte, which happened exactly 13 years earlier in Gaza, 17 September 1948. And yet another eerie coincidence, Alice Lalande – the only woman on board the Albertina – was Bernadotte’s personal secretary.International Edition of the NYT, September 20. Dag must have been bored to death of the overt and covert attacks on his sexuality and private life, on the job and in the press. But this was an era when being accused of homosexuality was akin to being accused of being a communist – Roy Cohn would understand! ”Mr. Hammarskjold did not like to talk about himself a great deal. He had an idea that he had been fixed forever in the public mind as a man with an alpenstock in one hand and a volume of T.S. Eliot’s works in the other. “That’s not a picture of me,” he said. “It is a caricature. Everywhere I go, mountains, mountains, T.S. Eliot. Believe me, I am sick of mountains and poetry talk.”European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 21. “The French-built Fouga Magister jet, the spokesman said, inflicted more casualties and damage on UN forces in the Congo than the police and army of Katanga’s President Moise Tshombe. By forcing unarmed UN transport aircraft to operate only under the cover of darkness, the jet may also have contributed to the circumstances that caused the death of Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold in a plane crash Sunday night outside Ndola, Northern Rhodesia. In successive bombing and strafing runs last week, the Fouga damaged or destroyed seven United Nations aircraft, wounded four Irish soldiers in the garrison at Jadotville and left four dead and six missing among a column of Indian troops seeking to support the Irish.”European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 21European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 21. David Lawrence, yet another white supremacist who had nothing good to say about the United Nations or Dag Hammarskjold.European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 21. On the same page, next to David Lawrence, is this thoughtful and sad salute to Dag Hammarskjold from Walter Lippmann: “If the world is not ready for what Hammarskjold felt compelled to try in the Congo, it is also true, I hate to say, that this present world is not ready for the kind of man Hammarskjold was. He was a Western man in the highest traditions of political excellence in the West. Khrushchev says that Hammarskjold was not neutral in the Congo, and that there is no such thing as a neutral man. Hammarskjold was in fact the embodiment of the noblest Western political achievement — that laws can be administered by judges and civil servants who have their first allegiance to the laws, and not to the personal, their class, or even their national interests. No such political ideal is believed to be possible or is regarded as tolerable in the Marxist world. The ideal is not very well understood in most of the rest of the world, and there is no use pretending that such public servants are not very rare indeed. So there are times, as now in this hour of our grief and shock, when the ideal seems to belong to things that are passing away.”Paris-presse l’intransigeant, September 21 “At the Ndola hospital, the only survivor, 30% burned, Sgt. Harold Julian[sic], has not yet been able to be questioned. His condition, although improved, remains serious.”France-Soir, September 21 Headline: “The survivor of Mr. H’s plane is incommunicado at the Ndola hospital (Rhodesia)” […] “Lying on his hospital bed in Ndola, the only survivor of the disaster, 30% burned, Sergeant Harry Julian[sic], one of the UNO bodyguards, is kept secret by doctors.” A rare photo of Mrs. Julien, caption says: “The wife of the sole survivor of Mr. H’s plane. Miami, 20 September (AP) — Mrs. Julian, 37 years, is the wife of the sole survivor of the DC-6 crash with Mr. H in Rhodesia. Mrs. Julian, who works for an advertising agency in Miami in the United States, only learned yesterday that her husband, Harry Julian, 37 years, one of Mr. H’s bodyguards, was on the plane.”
From Williams’ essay: “Maria Julien arrived in Ndola on Thursday, September 22, and was with Harry on the final day and night of his life. He was sedated and did not speak much. But she knew he was fully in his senses, because he asked about a chain that he had sent to her to be repaired — a chain to a medallion of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. They were both devout Catholics, and Maria had called a priest to her husband’s bedside.
“But on the morning of the next day, her husband died — despite the expectation that he would survive. This was five days after the crash. The coroner’s summary report listed the cause as “Renal failure due to extensive burns following aircraft accident.”
[…]
“As Sgt. Julien was the only person left to describe what has happened on the flight, his recollections should have been crucial to the investigations of the Rhodesian Commission. But the commission discounted Julien’s statements to the nurses, writing: “No attention need be paid to remarks, later in the week, about sparks in the sky. They either relate to the fire after the crash, or a symptom of his then condition.” Even Julien’s comment about the plane having blown up, made to police inspector Allen, was not given serious attention.
“The senior medical staff at the hospital dismissed Julien’s recollections of the crash as the ramblings of a sick man; his reference to “sparks in the sky” was attributed to uraemia. But Dr. Lowenthal took a different view. He stated that Julien’s recollections were spoken during a plasma transfusion and before an injection of pethidine, which means that Julien had not been sedated at the time. Lowenthal felt so strongly about the need to establish this truth that he participated in the Rhodesian hearings as a volunteer witness; he insisted that when Julien spoke about the crash, he was “lucid and coherent.”
France-Soir, September 21 “Only he, when he is out of danger, will be able to guide the investigation.” Tribune de Geneve, September 21. “Three months in hospital for the sole survivor of Hammarskjold’s plane. Sergeant Harry Julian[sic], seriously injured in the crash of the plane transporting Secretary-General Hammarskjold, and the only survivor of the disaster, will have to stay in hospital for at least three months. It will not be for ten or fifteen days before we will be able to know if he is really out of danger.”France -Soir, September 21 “The only survivor of Mr. H’s plane is delirious and cannot be questioned.” Tribune de Geneve, September 23-24 “The only survivor of the plane has died”Le Figaro, September 27Le Figaro, September 27 “After the Ndola disaster. The bullets were fired by weapons, say two Swedish experts.” […] “It is completely absurd to say that cartridges that catch fire can project bullets capable of piercing the human body” declared two famous ammunition experts from the Swedish police to Svenksa Dagbladet. This interview was prompted following statements by Rhodesian investigators, according to which, the bullets, found in the body of certain passengers of Mr. H’s plane, came from the explosion, under the action of fire, boxes of ammunition which were on board the aircraft. (This opinion, entirely theoretical, comes from people who did not go to the scene of the accident.)”
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday today, here is some encouragement from him: “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
Having spent so much time thinking about the life of Vlado Fabry, it has been impossible not to care about the way he died, and to want to know the truth about what happened. I’ve been reading every book and article I can find on the subject, but, for me, just reading the 1962 reports of the UN and Rhodesian Commissions investigation of the crash has been very revealing, especially in regards to Fouga Magisters which, I am convinced, shot down the Secretary General’s plane and caused it to crash on the night of 17/18 September, 1961. There were many Africans who saw one or two smaller planes following the DC-6 SE-BDY, but when they were interviewed by the Rhodesian and UN Commissions, they were treated like ignorant children and their testimonies were dismissed as fantasy. I learned a lot more about their treatment in Goran Bjorkdahl and Jacob Phiri’s excellent 2013 article for INTERNATIONAL PEACEKEEPING, Eyewitnesses: The Hammarskjold Plane Crash. From the article, here is one particularly awful comment from UN consultant Hugo Blandiori:
‘Thus, when it is taken into consideration that some of the African witnesses had lack of knowledge in air-plane identification, were of limited learning and might have been motivated by personal or political reasons, it becomes difficult in assessing the truth of their statements…As a consequence, I am of the opinion that the testimony of the African witnesses to the effect that they saw one or two small crafts flying along with SE-BDY just prior to its crash, has to be accepted with a grain of salt’.
I have provided here a few excerpts from both the Rhodesian and United Nations Commission, in order for you to appreciate the context of the following letter, which was written by former High Commissioner of South Africa, H.L.T.Taswell, on 29 September 1961, and was found in the archive of former Prime Minister of the British territory of the Central African Federation Sir Roy Welensky. A scan of the letter was sent to me by an anonymous source. I’m not positive if this particular letter is still considered “TOP SECRET”, but it won’t be anymore. It belongs in the public domain.
“At the outset we would say no reason was suggested, and we cannot think of one, why anyone who might have been able to attack this aircraft from the air should ever have wanted to attack it as it carried Mr. Hammarskjold on the mission he was then undertaking.”
(Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Report of the Commission on the Accident Involving Aircraft SE-BDY, chaired by Sir John Clayden, Chief Justice of the Federation, presented to the Federal Assembly, Salisbury, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; February 1962; Annex III, p.20, par.10)
“On landing at Leopoldville [the morning of 17 September 1961], [Flight Engineer] Wilhelmson had reported that SE-BDY had been fired on at the takeoff from Elisabethville. A thorough inspection of the aircraft was accordingly carried out under the supervision of Chief Mechanic Tryggvason of Transair. In the course of the inspection it was found that number 2 engine (inboard port) had been struck by a bullet, which had penetrated the engine cowling and hit the exhaust pipe. The exhaust pipe was replaced and the plane refueled to a total of ten tons.”
(…)
“The Commission further notes that no flight plan for the SE-BDY was transmitted to Salisbury. The Commission has taken into consideration the conditions existing in the Congo at the time and in particular the danger of an attack from the “Fouga Magister” which explains this departure from the rules governing commercial aviation. Indeed, the system of aeronautical communications cannot ensure the secrecy of messages”
(…)
“It is also relevant to observe that, because of the danger of an attack from the “Fouga Magister”, most of the flights in the Congo at the time were undertaken at night”
(…)
“The possibility of other aircraft being in the area of Ndola at the time of the crash was examined. Since the “Fouga Magister” of the Katangese Armed Forces had been operating against the United Nations in Katanga, the possibility of its reaching Ndola was examined by the Rhodesian Board of Investigation and the Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry. It was established that it could not have made the flight from its normal base in Kolwezi to Ndola and returned to Kolwezi since the distance is greater than its operational range. It was also stated by its captain and others that the “Fouga” was on the ground at Kolwezi the night of 17/18 September and could not have operated that night. This evidence is not entirely conclusive since the captain admitted before the Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry that on at least one occasion the “Fouga” had taken off from an unpaved track. While this track was said to be at an even greater distance from Ndola, nothing would appear to preclude the use of a track within range of Ndola. Nevertheless, there is no evidence that the “Fouga” was in the vicinity of Ndola on the night of the crash.”
(…)
“The Commission has, however, been informed that no radar watch was maintained in the Ndola area during the evening and night of 17 September 1961 and, therefore, the possibility of an “unknown aircraft” cannot be entirely excluded.”
(…)
“Certain witnesses testified that they saw or heard a second, or even third, plane. In particular, some of these testified that they saw a second smaller aircraft flying close to SE-BDY after it had passed over the airport or immediately before the crash and that the smaller aircraft was beaming lights on the larger. The Commission visited with some of these witnesses the spots from which their observations had been made and endeavored to obtain an understanding of their testimony. The Commission considers that several of these witnesses were sincere in their accounts of what they believed they saw.
The Commission is also of the opinion, however, that those witnesses may have misinterpreted their observations and reported some incidents which may not in fact have occurred in the way or at the time that they believed when they testified before the Commission.”
(United Nations General Assembly, Report of the Commission of the Investigation into the Conditions and Circumstances Resulting in the Tragic Death of Mr. Hammarskjold and the Members of the Party Accompanying Him, chaired by Rishikesh Shaha (UN A/5069); 24 April 1962; par. 69, 82, 89, 135, 136)
“TOP SECRET”
Salisbury S.R.
29th September, 1961
Dear Mr. Jooste,
As you will know, I had correspondence, during your absence, with our Minister regarding a suggestion made by Mr. Harper, Leader of the Opposition in Southern Rhodesia, that we assist in the establishment of an English language paper in this territory. The Minister’s reply is dated 5th September, 1961.
I have since had a further talk with Mr. Harper and explained the position to him. He will be visiting South Africa one of these days to have a discussion with Minister de Klerk on our Immigration laws. I will write to you again in due course on this matter.
Another approach for the establishment of an English language paper in Southern Rhodesia has since been made to me. It comes from quite a different quarter – namely from Mr. John Gaunt, Independent Member for Lusaka West, Northern Rhodesia, in the Federal Assembly. Particulars of Mr. Gaunt, taken from page 940-92 of the Who’s Who of Southern Africa 1961 are attached.
Mr. Gaunt is a colourful, outspoken and irrepressible politician who has a considerable following in this country. I would be inclined to describe him as the Arthur Marlow of the Federation. He is a fighter, a strong protagonist of the maintenance of white civilisation, yet not a supporter of our Government’s policy in its entirety. At the same time he is not an open or malicious critic of ours but a good friend.
A summary of what Mr. Gaunt had to say during the interview is attached.
Very briefly, his suggestion is that we make about £300,000 available through commercial interests in South Africa for the establishment of an English language paper here. This would be in opposition to the Argus press which is dedicated to the appeasement of “black nationalism” and aims at inducing whites to hand over control to a black majority as quickly as possible.
If £300,000 seems a great deal of money it should, he says, be borne in mind that it is barely the cost of a medium size commercial aircraft.
Mr. Gaunt does not feel that the proposed paper could dedicate itself to applying our racial policy in this country. The position here has already changed too much for that. But what it could do is ensure that the present constitution is rigorously adhered to. The Governments in Southern Rhodesia and the Federation should not be allowed to use the present constitution just as a temporary measure and as a means of sliding towards a still more liberal constitution.
Mr. Gaunt also feels that this paper would be able to further South Africa’s interests greatly by concentrating on favourable positive information. Such a paper if air mailed to South Africa each day could also serve a valuable purpose in our country and would assist the Government.
Mr. Gaunt would like to be made editor-in-chief so that he could give the correct slant to reports. He does not want to be responsible in any way for the financial side.
To me this idea of an independent paper has great appeal. Any opposition here is completely frustrated through having no paper. The Argus group is so powerful, moreover, that it could go far to breaking even the most established politician who does not follow its particular line – and I do not exclude Sir Roy Welensky.
Nearly two years ago Anglo-American and NST[? abbreviation unclear] withdrew their financial support of the United Federal Party. It looked then as if they were going to support Todd who was given a tremendous boost by the press because of his liberal line. Now the U.F.P. are following the liberal line themselves, Todd is in the background, Anglo-American and NST[?]have, I hear, restored their financial support of the U.F.P. and the Argus press are supporting the party. That the United Federal Party have been forced to toe the line by Argus press is no secret to us in South Africa.
The future say of the white man in the Government of this country does not look rosy. Banda has control in Nyasaland, Kaunda may, through British action, still attain a similar position in Northern Rhodesia. Southern Rhodesia’s new constitution could be merely the first step towards giving greater say to the black man here. The Federal constitution when revised must follow the pattern of the constitutions of the three constituent territories. That means infinitely greater say for the black man in the Federal Assembly. Such say will have to be very considerable indeed if Banda is to be induced to stay in the Federation.
Sir Roy and the United Kingdom are already at loggerheads over the talks on the Federal constitution. Sir Roy wanted them now. The United Kingdom wants postponement, no doubt with the object of further appeasement in Northern Rhodesia and conditioning of white feeling to a black majority government.
There is strong and bitter feeling in this country against the United Kingdom. Given an independent press it could be fanned to a point where the United Kingdom could be seriously embarrassed, and where Southern Rhodesia could still be saved, where it could break from the Federation and become independent. There are many influential men here would gladly grasp a weapon like an independent paper.
There are many seeds of discontent. This week we heard rumours of a serious division in the Federal Cabinet. The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, told me only a few days ago too that the financial picture here is far from rosy. The “expected” recovery after the Southern Rhodesia referendum has not materialized. The number of people who voted “yes” at that referendum and now feel they were duped and should have voted “no” is increasing. Properly exploited this discontent could have a marked influence when Southern Rhodesia goes to the polls in about a year’s time.
If the United Federal Party and the Argus press continue unchecked, it is merely a matter of time before our buffer zone north melts away. With an independent paper we could stave that day off and could even preserve the Southern Rhodesia[border? word obscured]with its 215,000 whites(2,630,000 blacks).
As Mr. Gaunt points out it is surely to our interest to have the main struggle for survival take place in Southern Rhodesia rather in South Africa.
A Canadian group is now negotiating for the purchase of African Newspapers here. One can imagine the kind of vitriol the Canadians would be capable of using against us.
The “Citizen”, Mr. Gaunt says, could be bought by us for a song. An immediate start could be made with a paper. Improvements could follow.
The Argus will try to kill any independent paper and financial losses must be expected. But would they not be worthwhile? We are fighting for our lives. They are fighting for a black majority government, for cheap labour and greater profits.
H.L.T. Taswell
High Commissioner
This letter perfectly illustrates how propaganda works, and it’s a history lesson on racism, and the lengths men will go to defend their right to it. Even though the Fouga Magister is a small fighter jet, the sentence about an independent paper being less expensive to purchase to defend their racial policy than “a medium size commercial aircraft” gave me a chill, because this written only 11 days after the crash. No wonder they hated Hammarskjold so much – what was the fragrance of life to the African was the stench of death to white rule.
Vlado 