While very interesting read I think first thing required here is to determine what this book is and what it is not. If you are looking into more details and new developments related to the untimely and mysterious death of one of the greatest UN Secretary-General's you wont find it here - for information on this do check Susan Williamson's book [b: Who Killed Hammarskjöld? The UN, the Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa|12657762|Who Killed Hammarskjöld? The UN, the Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa |Susan Williams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1345074834l/12657762._SX50_.jpg|17771820] or for description of all strange and shady characters involved, Christopher Othen's [b: Katanga 1960-63: Mercenaries, Spies and the African Nation that Waged War on the World|25362981|Katanga 1960-63 Mercenaries, Spies and the African Nation that Waged War on the World|Christopher Othen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1429097651l/25362981._SY75_.jpg|45106986].

If you are looking for a solid introductory read into this topic then this is book for you. Author gives a very detailed picture of events in Congo and Katanga in 1961-63. This was (after Korea in 1950's) last large engagement of UN led troops in area heavily contested by both superpowers and also various private enterprises. So when UN decided to stand with the Congolese government to affirm their independence, forever present fear of those others-that-want-to-destroy-us (communists but in general populist movements of any kind at the time) will trigger armed response from the neighboring countries already involved in the long counterinsurgency war (Rhodesia) and from private companies that just didn't want to lose their profitable concessions (and also didn't want to be called out by any elected government especially in the areas where they were the de-facto governments). Soon large groups of shady people, mercenaries and spies began to pop up, and conflict between UN/official Congo government and Katanga (supported by private enterprises) entered a bloody phase. Dag Hammerskjold was a person that lived by UN rules and obligations so for him there was no other way but to make sure Congo exits the colonial period a sovereign country. Challenged by the mercenary forces, and triggered by gruesome murder of Lubumba, UN troops started a series of offensives that were so brutally fought by both sides that Katanga's leader Tschombe decided to have a meeting with Hammerskjold to discuss how to reintegrate secessionist Katanga back into Congo. And en route to the meeting plane carrying Dag Hammerskjold will crash killing everybody on board.

And this is where author starts to give us details on all investigations and obstacles encountered during the investigation of the crash. It is true that story loses its tempo here but this is as expected because lots of details related to the crash were intentionally obscured by almost every official team and by actions of various countries with interest in Katanga. Because of such an opposition investigations would hit a wall very fast. Either people would hide away from the investigators or they would be dismissed as unreliable (for some very weird reasons that, to make things stranger, were never challenged) or just would not be available for questioning (especially during the re-started investigation in 2000's, time when majority of witnesses from 1960's were long time dead). Unfortunately there are no documents given in the book nor details on the findings (only given is publicly available information which is not much) so everything reads very much like he-said-she-said. Again this is expected. It just seems nobody wants to volunteer the information that would shed light on this event.

When one scratches the surface such weird things start to surface, characters and organizations that seem like they popped up from pages of pulp fiction novels (SAIMR being just one one of them, maybe even not the strangest one).

This event is important for several reasons - first, UN will never again act in capacity they did in Congo and will forever remain toothless tiger that became more involved in politicking and squabbling but unable to force any settlement ever again on its own; second, killing of a high profile person like UN Secretary General sent a message to everyone in the world. No-one was untouchable. Even if this was not planned assassination entire web of half-truths that was built around the event will always raise the what-if question and make politicians (usually not the most reliable people to begin with) to keep their distance.

If there was ever a warning story of what happens when private business and government goals match then it was this. Hopefully truth about what happened will eventually come to the light of the day.

Very good book, good introduction to the topic and with extensive bibliography to pick up to learn more.

Recommended. ( )