§ 13. Mr. MullinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether any assistance, including training, has been provided to Cambodians engaged in resistance to the Phnom Penh regime; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonAs the hon. Gentleman will know better than I, there was a long debate in the House on Friday on Cambodia, during which these matters were fully aired. There is nothing that I can add to what the Government said then, other than to repeat that persistent claims from the hon. Gentleman and from other Opposition Members that we have supported the Khmer Rouge are completely unfounded. We never have provided, and will never provide, any form of assistance, military or otherwise, to that organisation.
§ Mr. MullinWhy not tell the truth——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. That is okay.
§ Mr. Mullin—that between July 1985 and October 1989 British service men based in Thailand were training Khmer terrorists?
§ Mr. HamiltonThe hon. Gentleman well knows that we do not comment on matters of that kind.
§ Mr. BowisWill my hon. Friend give every assistance, including training, to those in Cambodia who are seeking to remove the mines which were laid by all sides in that terrible conflict and which are causing such devastation to the people of that sad country?
§ Mr. HamiltonAs I have said already, we do not comment on training given to Governments. However, we have already made it clear that we have given no assistance whatever to the Khmer Rouge and that that organisation has had no support whatever from us.