Evening star., 1961-09-19
Truce ToIks, Put Off by Air Crash,
Opened With Tshombe in Rhodesio

NDOLA. Northern Rhodesia,
Sept. 19 (AP) P).-Katanga truce
talks put off by Dag Ham
marskjold's death in a plane
crash opened here today with
a Tunisian, Mahmoud Khlari.
in the role Of chief United Ma
tions negotiator.
U. N. spokesmen announced
Mr.. Khiari met at 2 pm. with
Katanga's President Noise
Tshombe. whose troops and
tribal warriors are battling In
dian, Swedish and Irish troops
seeking to carry out U. N. or
ders for return of the seces-
sionist province to the Congo's
central government.
The Rhodesian Air Force
helped bring the opposing dele
cations together as U. N. intel
ligence experts probed riddles
Of the crash that killed Mr..
Hammarskjold and IA of his
is companions on a flight Sum-
day night to this Northern
Rhodesian copper center.
A Rhodesian fighter escort
was provided for Mr.. Khiari's
plane from Leopoldville at the
request Of the United Nations,
a government spokesman said.
A Rhodesian Air Force escort
accompanied Mr.. Tshombe to
Ndola, from which he had de-
parted yesterday after waiting
vainly for "a hours for Mr..
Hammarskjold.
Meeting in Control Tower
The opening meeting was at
the control tower of Ndola's
airport.
Mr.. Khiari is chief of civil
operations in the Congo. He
and his delegation seek to
carry through Mr.. Ham
marskjold's incompleted final
peace mission.
Salvage workers pulled an
other body from the wreck this
morning making a total of Is
dead, with one survivor.
This was momentarily puzzl-
ing for only IA persons - six
Swedish civilian crew members
and eight U. N. personnel-were
listed by the U. N. office in
Leopoldville yesterday as board.
But u. N. check today dis
closed there were 16, two Swed-
ish guards Sergt. Stig Hjelte,
81, and Pvt. Per Evald Person,
20-had been omitted from the
list.
1t. Col. Ben Matlick, United
States air attache from Leo
poldville, who inspected the
wreck today, said he was con-
vinced that speculation that the
plane may have been shot down
was groundlesS.
There's absolutely nothing
in it." he said. /
Series of Explosions
The possibility of sabotage
or armed attack had drawn
banner headlines in Rhodesian
newspapers. The lone survivor.
Harry Julien, an American
U. N. security guard, was
quoted as saying a series of
explosions shook the four
engine DC-6B before it plunged
into a forest reserve north Of I
town and burned.
However, seasoned pilots who
viewed the fire -blackened
wreckage agreed with Col. Mat
lick. They said it looked like
typical results of a crash
caused in a landing approach
by loss of power or faulty in
struments.
Mr.. Julien was pulled semi
conscious from the wreckage
badly burned after lying there
more than Is hours-the inter-
val between the planes dis
appearance and the discovery
of the wreck.
A Ndola hospital spokesman
said the survivor is as COM
Portable as could be expected, I
adding: He still is very ill
and is under heavy sedation.
He has not spoken since he
was brought here" +
Rhodesia Directs Probe
Col. Maurice Barber, civil
aviation director of the British
run Central African (Rhode- /
siam Federation, heads the in
quiry into the crash. The U. N.
intelligence work is directed t
by Col. Bjorn Egge, a Nor
wegian. /
Owners of the plane. the
Swedish A. Co.. said in
Leopoldville the plane might
have been shot down by q jet
fighter from rebellious Ka-
tanga's tiny air force. |
The bodies of Mr.. Ham .
marskjold and the other VIC
Tins were brought to the Ndola
hospital mortuary.
The death of Mr.. Hammar-
skiold leaves the Congo on the
brink of chaos. U. N. troops, /
who went on the offensive last
week to disarm TShombe troops
and bring Katanga's mineral
wealth back under the Congo's
central government, were still
fighting the Tshombe army.
Fighting Reported Spreading
Katanga's forces claimed the
capture Of the main U. N. base
in Katanga at Kamina and
fighting was reported spread
ing to other areas of the prov
ince.
The discovery of the wreck
age Of Mr.. Hammarskjold's
plane and the report of the
lone survivor raised a number
of questions besides the possi-
BILE. cause of the crash.
NRAsa;aIs .,,.A~l AZ, T,.I.~o