Bernt Wilmar Carlsson (1938 - 21 December 1988) was Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations and UN Commissioner for Namibia from July 1987 until he died on
Pan Am Flight 103Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. On Wednesday 21 December 1988, the aircraft flying this route—a Boeing 747-121 named Clipper Maid of the Seas—was...
, which was blown up over
LockerbieLockerbie is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately 75 miles from Glasgow, and from the English border. It is a small town, with a population of just 4,009 at the 2001 census....
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
on 21 December 1988.
Social democrat
A native of
Stockholm' is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag , and the official residence of the Swedish Monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of...
, Carlsson joined the
Swedish Social Democratic Youth LeagueThe Swedish Social Democratic Youth League is a social democratic youth organisation in Sweden, affiliated with the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation....
when he was sixteen, studied economics at
Stockholm UniversityStockholm University is a state university in Stockholm, Sweden. It has over 27,500 students at four faculties, being one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is also frequently regarded as one of the top 100 universities in the world...
and, upon graduation, went into Sweden's foreign ministry. He worked as assistant to the Minister of Commerce in 1967 and, three years later, was assigned to be international secretary of the ruling
Social Democratic PartyThe Swedish Social Democratic Party, , contests elections as 'Labour' Party - Social Democrats' , commonly referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' or colloquially 'the Socials' ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden...
of Sweden in 1970. Concurrent with his position in the party, Prime Minister,
Olof PalmeSven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician.Palme was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his assassination in 1986. He was also the Prime Minister of Sweden twice during this period, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet government...
, appointed him as
Special Adviser.
Socialist International
In 1976, Carlsson became Secretary-General of
Socialist InternationalThe Socialist International is a worldwide organisation of democratic socialist, social democratic, socialist, and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
(SI), based in London, at the same time as former Federal German Chancellor,
Willy BrandtWilly Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
, assumed the SI presidency. For the next seven years, Carlsson was engaged in extending the SI's influence beyond
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
to
Third WorldThe term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or neutral with either capitalism and NATO or communism and the Soviet Union...
countries, channelling money and political support to the struggle for liberation in Southern Africa. When there was a break-in at his London apartment, Carlsson confided to his Canadian SI colleague Robin V Sears:
"They messed things up and pawed through my papers. Then just to make sure I knew it wasn't a simple burglary they piled my money in the centre of the living-room rug." ... "But don't talk about it, and I'm not going to report it. That would just give the bastards their little victory."
Carlsson also pioneered moves towards
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
peace using the SI's unique position of having
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
's governing Labour Party as a member, and at the same time retaining very good ties with Arab countries and
Yasser ArafatMohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority, and leader of the Fatah political...
's faction in the PLO. Carlsson developed a particularly close relationship with Arafat's right-hand man,
Issam SartawiDr Issam Sartawi was a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization.-Medical background:Issam Sartawi attended university in Baghdad, graduating in medicine, before specializing in cardiology and getting his MD in the United States.-Politics:Sartawi returned to Palestine in 1967, joined...
, who was murdered (allegedly by the Abu Nidal Organization) during an SI conference in
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
on April 10, 1983. Earlier in 1983, however, in a dispute about what he perceived as the SI president's authoritarian approach, Carlsson rebuked Brandt saying: "this is a Socialist International — not a German International". Following the April 1983 SI congress in
AlbufeiraAlbufeira is a Portuguese city and a municipality in the district of Faro, Algarve region. Its name came from the Arabic: البحيرة . The city proper has a population of 13,646. The municipality has a population of 35,281 inhabitants and a total area of 140.6 km²...
,
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
, which Brandt had contentiously decided to relocate the SI's conference from
SydneySydney is the largest city in Australia, and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney has a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million and an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres. Its inhabitants are called Sydneysiders, and Sydney is often called "the Harbour City"...
(due to the protests of newly-elected pro-Israeli Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke against the PLO's inclusion), Brandt retaliated by forcing Carlsson to step down.
Swedish diplomat
Carlsson left London and returned to Sweden in 1983 and, for two years, became Palme's special emissary to the Middle East and Africa. Palme entrusted him with an important Middle East role in delicate attempts to negotiate a peace agreement between
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
and
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
. From 1985 to 1987 Carlsson was head of Nordic Affairs in Sweden's foreign ministry. In 1986 Palme was assassinated.
UN Commissioner for Namibia
On July 1, 1987 Carlsson was appointed an Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the UN Commissioner for Namibia. A year later, he convened a meeting in Stockholm between the SWAPO leadership (
Sam NujomaSamuel Daniel Shafiishuna Nujoma Samuel Daniel Shafiishuna Nujoma Samuel Daniel Shafiishuna Nujoma (born 12 May 1929 in Ongandjera, South West Africa (now Omusati Region) was the first President of Namibia. He was inaugurated as President on 21 March 1990 and was subsequently re-elected in 1994 and...
,
Hage GeingobHage Geingob is a Namibian politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Namibia following its independence, serving from 1990 to 2002. He has been the Vice-President of the ruling South West Africa People's Organization since 2007 and is currently the Minister of Trade and Industry.- Early life...
and
Hidipo HamutenyaHidipo L. Hamutenya is a Namibian politician. A long-time leading member of the South-West Africa People's Organization , Hamutenya was a member of the Namibian Cabinet from 1990 to 2004...
), and a delegation of "whites" from Namibia to discuss developments in the independence process.
Namibia's independence had been expected to take place soon after
United Nations Security Council Resolution 435Adopted on September 29, 1978, this resolution put forward proposals for a cease-fire and UN-supervised elections in South Africa controlled South-West Africa which ultimately led to the independence of Namibia...
was agreed in September 1978. However, it took over 10 years for
UNSCR 435Adopted on September 29, 1978, this resolution put forward proposals for a cease-fire and UN-supervised elections in South Africa controlled South-West Africa which ultimately led to the independence of Namibia...
to be implemented. The delay was blamed by author and journalist
Christopher HitchensChristopher Eric Hitchens is an English-American author, journalist, and literary critic. He has been a columnist at Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Slate, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media outlets...
on
Chester CrockerChester Arthur Crocker is an American diplomat who served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1981 to 1987 in the Reagan administration. Crocker, architect of the U.S...
's 'procrastination' and on President
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
's 'attempt to change the subject to the presence of Cuban forces in Angola' as well as the 'flagrant bias' in America's Namibia policy in favour of apartheid South Africa. Hitchens praised Carlsson's role as a 'neutral mediator' in the process leading to Namibia's independence:
An important participant was Bernt Carlsson, UN Commissioner for Namibia, who worked tirelessly for free elections in the colony and tried to isolate the racists diplomatically. Carlsson had been Secretary-General of the Socialist InternationalThe Socialist International is a worldwide organisation of democratic socialist, social democratic, socialist, and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
, and International Secretary of the Swedish Social Democratic PartyThe Swedish Social Democratic Party, , contests elections as 'Labour' Party - Social Democrats' , commonly referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' or colloquially 'the Socials' ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden...
. He performed innumerable services for movements and individuals from Eastern EuropeEastern Europe is a region lying in the Eastern part of Europe. The term is highly context-dependent and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
to Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. His death in the mass murder of the passengers on Pan American Flight 103 just before Christmas 1988, and just before the signing of the Namibia accords in New YorkThe Tripartite Accord, Three Powers Accord or New York Accords granted independence to Namibia and ended the direct involvement of foreign troops in the Angolan Civil War...
, is appalling beyond words.
An
editorialEditorials are featured in many newspapers and magazines, usually written by the senior editorial staff or publisher of the publication. Additionally, most print publications feature an editorial, or letter from the editor, sometimes followed by a Letters to the Editor section...
in
The GuardianThe Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
of December 23, 1988 stated:
Two days before Christmas, two tides flow strongly. One - the greater tide - is the tide of peace. More nagging, bloody conflicts have been settled in 1988 than in any year since the end of the Second World War. There are forces for good abroad in the world as seldom before. There is also a tide of evil, a force of destruction. By just one of those ironies which afflict the human condition, peace came to Namibia yesterday. Meanwhile, on a Scottish hillside, the body of the Swedish UN Commissioner for Namibia was one amongst hundreds strewn across square miles of debris: a victim - supposition, but strongly based - of a random terrorist bomb which had blown a 747The Boeing 747 is a widebody commercial airliner, often referred to by the nickname "Jumbo Jet". It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first widebody ever produced...
to bits at 31,000 feet."
Ten years were to elapse until the
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
/
Mikhail GorbachevMikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was the second-to-last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until 1991, and the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1988 until its collapse in 1991...
summit of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union in
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
(May 29, 1988 – June 1, 1988), finally secured the implementation of UNSCR 435, which would require South Africa to relinquish its control of Namibia.
Call for urgent inquiry
In September 2009, former
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
MEPMEP may refer to:* Member of the European Parliament, an elected politician in the European Union* Mechanical Electrical and Plumbing, a part of the building design industry* Maximum Entropy Principle, a probability distribution used in statistics theory...
Michael McGowanMichael McGowan is a journalist and a former Member of the European Parliament, with a special interest in international affairs, European politics, Africa, peace, development, and human rights...
called for an urgent independent inquiry led by the United Nations into the Lockerbie disaster. McGowan wrote that he was personally affected by the crash: "As President of the Development Committee of the European Parliament, I had invited Bernt Carlsson, the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and UN Commissioner for Namibia, to call in at
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium...
in December 1988. He was on his way back to the United States from Namibia and agreed to address members of the Development Committee, which he did. In Brussels, he spoke about his hopes for an independent Namibia and the end of apartheid in South Africa to a packed meeting of MEPs.
And afterwards he confirmed his acceptance to visit
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The historic core at the heart of Leeds in 2001 had an estimated subdivision population of 443,247, whilst the entire city, that includes the urban and suburban areas incorporated into the city in 1974, had an estimated...
the following year to give the 1989 Peace Lecture in honour of
Olof PalmeSven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician.Palme was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his assassination in 1986. He was also the Prime Minister of Sweden twice during this period, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet government...
, the former Swedish Prime Minister, who was murdered in
Stockholm' is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag , and the official residence of the Swedish Monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of...
on February 26, 1986. He said how much he was looking forward to coming to Leeds to pay tribute to his fellow Swede with whom he had worked closely as international secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Sweden, and also as a special adviser to Palme. Bernt Carlsson did not make that visit to Leeds in 1989. He was a passenger on Pan Am Flight 103 and he died when the plane was blown up over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988. He was a giant of diplomacy, gentle, quiet, but a tough negotiator. His death, like that of his friend and fellow Swede, Prime Minister Palme, who was murdered in the street in Stockholm returning with his wife from a night at the cinema, was the result of a terrorist act and remains a mystery.
A call by the British Government for an independent inquiry led by the United Nations to find out the truth about Pan Am flight 103 is urgently required. We owe it to the families of the victims of Lockerbie and the international community to identify those responsible. That Bernt Carlsson was on that plane should be an extra incentive for the UN to take action in view of the fact that this impressive diplomat was dealing with some of the most sensitive and violent situations being perpetrated by the brutal apartheid regime in both
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
and
NamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in Southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the east, and South Africa to the south and east...
, besides his work in the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. The best tribute to the lives and families of the 270 victims of Lockerbie, including Bernt Carlsson, and the most positive action for the international community to take against terrorism, is to launch an independent inquiry into this gross act of mass murder. Nothing less will suffice."
UN murder inquiry
Echoing Michael McGowan's demand for an inquiry, and following publication of his article, a commentator's e-petition in the
Yorkshire PostThe Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...
asked prime minister
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming leader of the governing Labour Party...
"to endorse calls for a United Nations Inquiry into the murder of UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing." The petition continued: "Sweden's UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, was the most prominent of the 270 Lockerbie bombing victims murdered on 21 December 1988. In investigating Carlsson's murder, Scottish police detective John Crawford stated in his book (
The Lockerbie Incident: A Detective's Tale): 'We even went as far as consulting a very helpful lady librarian in Newcastle who contacted us with information she had on Bernt Carlsson. She provided much of the background on the political moves made by Carlsson on behalf of the United Nations. He had survived a previous attack on an aircraft he had been travelling on in Africa. It is unlikely that he was a target as the political scene in Southern Africa was moving inexorably towards its present state....I discounted the theory as being almost totally beyond the realms of feasibility.'
"A United Nations Inquiry can be expected to find a different - and much better - explanation for Bernt Carlsson's murder."
The first signatory is Robert Black QC, Emeritus Professor of
Scots LawScots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law. Grounded in uncodified civil law dating back to the Corpus Juris Civilis, it also features elements of common law with medieval sources...
at Edinburgh University. 500 signatures are required by the petition's closing date 28 January 2010 in order to trigger an official response from the Prime Minister.
Memorial
An obituary to Carlsson, written by his friend
Michael HarringtonEdward Michael "Mike" Harrington was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founder of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Early life:...
, was published in the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California since 1881. It is distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States...
on December 26, 1988. The Bernt Carlsson Trust – otherwise known as
One World ActionOne World Action is a charity based in London whose aims are a world free from poverty and oppression, where strong democracies safeguard people's rights.One World Action supports partner organizations in Asia, Africa and Central America...
– was founded by
Glenys KinnockGlenys Elizabeth Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, Baroness Kinnock of Bedwellty is an English-born Welsh politician who is currently Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She was a Labour Party Member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 2009...
on December 21, 1989 (the first anniversary of the Lockerbie air disaster) in memory of Carlsson.
In
WindhoekWindhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in the central Khomas Region, and had a population of 306,093 in the 2009 calculations, believed to be over 296,000 in 2008.- Geography :...
,
NamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in Southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the east, and South Africa to the south and east...
, a street in the Pionierpark Extension 1 township is named "Bernt Carlsson Road".
In 2008, to mark the 20th anniversary of the sabotage of
Pan Am Flight 103Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. On Wednesday 21 December 1988, the aircraft flying this route—a Boeing 747-121 named Clipper Maid of the Seas—was...
, the
Socialist InternationalThe Socialist International is a worldwide organisation of democratic socialist, social democratic, socialist, and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
published an article entitled "Remembering Bernt Carlsson". The article quoted from the
eulogyA eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services, however some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
given by
Sten AnderssonSten Sture Andersson was a Swedish social democratic politician....
(then Sweden's foreign minister) at the January 1989 memorial service in Stockholm. Andersson described Carlsson as:
A man with a natural talent for the difficult art of silent diplomacy. In that art many are unsuccessful. But not Bernt. For Bernt was also a man with a soul as tough as steel as his friend Michael Harrington so nicely put it. We, his friends and colleagues, know that he was knowledgeable, with analytical acumen, single-minded and, most important of all, untiring in his fight for those most exposed, those most persecuted. At all times and in every post Bernt was always prepared in concrete action to make common cause with the weak and oppressed. In our country and the world.
See also
- Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat and author and was the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. He served from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. He is the only person to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously....
- Hans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer mission
Hans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer mission stemmed from the dispute between the United Kingdom, the United States, and Libya concerning arrangements for the trial of two Libyans accused of causing the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie on 21 December, 1988.The dispute was resolved...
- Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician.Palme was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his assassination in 1986. He was also the Prime Minister of Sweden twice during this period, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet government...
External links