HC Deb 27 January 1964 vol 688 cc33-6
Mr. Bottomley

(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations whether he will make a further statement about the use of British troops in East Africa.

The Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Duncan Sandys)

On Friday morning I informed the House that, following some trouble within the Uganda Rifles, British troops, composed of two companies of the Staffordshire Regiment and one company of the Scots Guards, were sent to that country at the request of the Prime Minister, Mr. Obote, to help in stabilising the situation. After having secured the airfield at Entebbe and keypoints in Kampala, a detachment of the Staffords proceeded to Jinja and established control of the barracks where the trouble had earlier occurred.

At the same time, I also informed the House that authority had been given for the use of British troops to help the Kenya Government to maintain law and order should the need arise. I emphasised that this was purely a precautionary measure. However, later on Friday, soldiers of the Kenya Army at Lanet, some 80 miles north of Nairobi, defied authority and attempted to seize the armoury. As soon as this news was received, troops of the 3rd Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, were despatched at once to Lanet, where they entered the barracks and disarmed the mutineers.

At about the same time on Friday evening, the Minister of External Affairs of Tanganyika, Mr. Kambona, delivered to our acting High Commissioner in Dar-es-Salaam, a letter from President Nyerere asking for British help to regain control of the troops of the Tanganyika Army which had mutinied earlier in the week and on which the Government could no longer rely.

We decided at once to accede to this request and the necessary orders were radioed to the aircraft carrier H.M.S. "Centaur", which had arrived in that area from Aden earlier in the day. At first light, the destroyer H.M.S. "Cambrian", which was escorting "Centaur", fired blank rounds as a means of diverting attention.

Meanwhile, men of 45 Royal Marine Commando were landed by helicopter near the barracks of the 1st Batallion of the Tanganyika Rifles outside Dar-es-Salaam and quickly overcame such resistance as there was. Thereafter, a detachment of the Royal Marine was flown to the barracks of the 2nd Batallion of the Tanganyika Rifles at Tabora in order to give support to the African officers who had in the meantime reestablished control.

In these operations in all three countries the British forces suffered no casualties. My information is that in Dar-es-Salaam three African soldiers were killed and that nine were flown to H.M.S. "Centaur" for treatment of wounds. No African casualties have been reported to me from Uganda or Kenya.

Thanks have been expressed by the three Governments concerned and President Nyerere has asked me to convey to the British people a message which I would like to read to the House. It states:

"Dear Mr. Sandys,

It is with deep gratitude that I write to acknowledge the help which has been given by Britain to Tanganyika today. I do this on behalf of the whole Tanganyika people, for the disgraceful conduct of the Tanganyika Rifles has led to a situation of fear, with the possibility of much bloodshed.

The prompt agreement to my request for assistance and the magnificent way in which the operation was carried out in the early hours of this morning, leaves Tanganyika much indebted to your Government, the people of Britain, and particularly to the members of the Royal Marine Commandos and the other members of British forces which have taken part in this activity.

May I say, further, how extremely glad we are that your help has not caused any injury, nor any loss of life, among the British soldiers and sailors involved. Please feel at liberty to inform the British Parliament of the contents of this letter if you so wish. I am anxious that the British people should be aware of our gratitude for this prompt expression of friendship for the Republic of Tanganyika.

Yours Sincerely,

Julius K. Nyerere".

Hon. Members

Hear, hear.

Mr. Sandys

I am sure that the whole House will wish to join with me in congratulating all ranks of the three Services who took part in these operations. I know that we have all admired the promptness and efficiency with which they discharged these difficult and unusual tasks and their restraint in the use of force, as a result of which casualties were kept down to the absolute minimum.

Hon. Members

Hear, hear.

Mr. Bottomley

My right hon. and hon. Friends wish to be associated with this tribute to our troops and I am sure that the House speaks in this on behalf of all our fellow-countrymen.

Is this not an example of Commonwealth co-operation? Has the right hon. Gentleman given any further thought to the suggestion I made recently, that we might have a pool of Commonwealth Service men for use in emergencies of this kind? This is not the time to discuss that further, but we on this side of the House will at some time want to have a look at the extra military obligations which the Government have to take on in the light of our own ability to meet those demands when they have been made upon us.

Mr. Sandys

As I said on the last occasion, I do not want to go into the question of Commonwealth planning in regard to these matters, but, again, as I have said, we naturally welcome any co-operation we can receive from other Commonwealth Governments.

Sir A. V. Harvey

Now that Britain is actively engaged in helping these countries at their request, is my right hon. Friend initiating discussions among them to see what can be done collectively to combat subversion from outside influences?

Mr. Sandys

As soon as we have dealt with the immediate situation I propose to have early consultations with the three East African Governments concerned.

Mr. Mellish

Have the Government received any message from Mr. Kenyatta? It is understood that, during the weekend, in a statement he made to the people of Kenya, no mention was made of the British contribution. Has the right hon. Gentleman had a message from Mr. Kenyatta, expressing his thanks personally?

Mr. Sandys

As I said in my statement, we have had messages from all three Governments. The reason that I read the letter from President Nyerere was that he specifically said that he would like it to be published so that his appreciation could be known to the whole British people.

Sir W. Bromley-Davenport

Who paid for this operation?

Mr. Sandys

We normally pay our own way.