§ 15. Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what is the number of Egyptian troops stationed in the Sudan; whether the Egyptian Government is continuing to employ these troops in the Sudan; and what sum is accounted for in the Egyptian military expenditure on account of these troops?
§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. J. Ramsay MacDonald)The number of troops of the Egyptian Army stationed in 7 the Sudan is approximately 13,000. Of these, all except about 2,000 are recruited from natives of the Sudan. The Egyptian Government has not notified any intention of altering the present disposition of these troops. The Egyptian Government does not budget separately for that portion of its Army which is stationed in the Sudan, nor is the expenditure on that portion shown separately in the statement of accounts published after the accounts for the year are closed. At the beginning of the volume of published accounts, however, a special memorandum is included showing an amount which is described as "the military expenditure of the Sudan." It is understood that the figure thus shown is compiled by the Egyptian War Department, and is based to a great extent on estimates. It is supposed to represent the extra cost involved in maintaining troops in the Sudan as compared with what the cost of the same troops would be if stationed in Egypt. The latest statement of accounts which has been published is for the year 1st April, 1921, to 31st March, 1922. The figure given as the "military expenditure of the Sudan" for that year is £E.477,947.