Tributes To Work Of Hammarskjold

Press, Volume C, Issue 29623, 20 September 1961, Page 9

Tributes To Work Of Hammarskjold

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LONDON, September 19. Tributes to the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Dag Hammarskjold, who was killed in an air crash in Northern Rhodesia yesterday, flowed from all over the world during the night. Many world leaders agreed his death was a grave loss to the cause of peace.

Reuter cprrespondents in world centres reported: Washington: President Kennedy in a television broadcast yesterday said: “I am speaking for all my fellow Americans in expressing our deep sense of shock and loss. ...” He said that Mr Hammarskjold’s name “will be treasured high among the peace-makers of history. Dag Hammarskjold’s dedication to the cause of peace and world order through the United Nations was total His capacity to work to bring this about already is legendary.”

New York: The British Foreign Secretary (Lord Home), at the United Nations said: “If ever a man was fitted to represent the ideals of international service, it was Dag Hammarskjold. He came to personify the United Nations to ordinary men and women throughout the world.” The President of the United Nations Security Council <Dtt Nathan Barnes) said that all members of the United Nations "must mourn for this great loss which the world has suffered.”

Vienna: The British Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Lloyd), attending the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings, said Mr Hammarskjold’s task

had never been an easy one. ‘‘What he did was criticised from time to time, but he was a man of brilliant intellect and great diplomatic skill,” he said.

Bonn: Dr. Adenauer, the West German Chancellor, said Mr Hammarskjold “served until his tragic end the maintenance of peace, and with that the deepest wish of the peoples.”

New Delhi: The Indian Prime Minister (Mr Nehru) said Mr Hammarskjold was a

“great international civil servant” who "was often criticised—and we have sometimes criticised him, also—but we do not doubt his loyal service to the United Nations for the cause of peace.” Belgrade: President Tito

expressed “consternation” at Mr Hammarskjold’s death and sent a telegram of sympathy to the United Nations General Assembly.

Stockholm: The Swedish Prime Minister (Mr Tage Erlender) paid tribute to Mr Hammarskjold’s devotion to duty, acumen, objectivity and scrupulous honesty. King Gustaf Adolf announced that the flag over the Royal Palace, which normally flies at half-mast only on the death of Royalty, would fly at halfmast today. Jerusalem: The Israeli Prime Minister (Mr BenGurion) said Mr Hammarskjold “endeavoured to enhance peace in our region, and if he did not always succeed, it was not due to lack of goodwill op his part.” Cairo: The Secretary-Gen-eral of the Arab League (Mr Abdul Khaliaq Hassouna) said Mr Hammarskjold’s death was "a calamity for the whole world ... a loss for which the United Nations cannot be compensated.” The United Arab Republic Government said in a statement that it “recalls his honourable attitude to serve peace and justice and also the manner in which he faced the tripartite aggression on Egypt (in 1986).”

Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia: The Rhodesian Federal Prime Minister, Sir Roy Welensky, said Mr Hammarskjold’s “record of achievement was considerable by any standards, but specially so in view of the immensely delicate field in which he had to work.”

Kitwe, Northern Rhodesia: President Moise Tshombe of Katanga said at a press conference: “I had great esteem for Mr Hammarskjold: I had confidence in him and I knew he was a man I could talk with.” London: The British Prime Minister (Mr Macmillan)

called him a man who had "placed his great talents unsparingly at the service of the United Nations.” The British Labour leader (Mr Gaitskell) said Mr Hammarskjold had the “most difficult job imaginable, and he did it extraordinarily well.” His death, he said, was “a very heavy blow to the cause of peace.”

The Queen, in a message to the President of the United Nations General Assembly. (Mr Frederick Boland) said she was “very much shocked to learn of the death of Mr Hammarskjold.”

Canberra: The Australian Prime Minister (Mr Menzies) said, “Mr Hammarskjold was a very remarkable man, and did as much as any man could to hold the United Nations together and to preserve its good judgment.” In London, the “Daily Mirror” said Mr Hammarskjold’s death meant the United Nations "faces a situation that threatens its very existence as an organisation to preserve world peace. ... As it stands, there is no prospect of the organisation having a new leader in the foreseeable future—because East and West will not be able to agree on a successor.” The “Daily Express” said it seemed “well on the cards” that the United Nations was “Doomed.” If deadlock persisted in the Security Council, the organisation could be paralysed indefinitely. If, on the other hand, the West accepted the Troika principle, no United Nations action could be taken anywhere in future without Russian approval, it said. The “Financial Times” said: “Even if it were to prove possible to reach agreement between East and West on one successor—and the Soviet Union can use its veto in the Security Council to pre-

vent any recommendation of a successor—it would take months if not years until the man appointed had gained the respect and the authority which Mr Hammarskjold had earned during eight years in which he played an irreplaceable role. The whole future of the United Nations is now in the balance."

In a New York report, the “Guardian” said: “The tragic news .... has thrown the United Nations headquarters

.... into utter confusion and dismay. His death has disclosed the extent to which the whole organisation depended on this single man.” The “Daily Mail” said: “The ideal of a supra-national authority was beginning to take its first halting—admittedly uncertain —steps. He was holding it by the hand, and now that he has gone, we must ask ourselves whether the United Nations will ever learn to walk without him.”