§ 2.35 p.m.
§ LORD BARNBYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government, with regard to United Nations troops stationed in the Congo, what proportion of the officer cadre have received any training under career officers of the United States, French, German or United Kingdom armed forces.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE EARL OF DUNDEE)My Lords, the United Nations forces in the Congo have included contingents from India, Nigeria, Malaya, Canada, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Some officers of these contingents from Commonwealth countries, which have served with distinction, have had past connections with the British Army. I have no exact information about the previous training of other contingents of the United Nations troops in the Congo.
§ LORD BARNBYMy Lords, is it to be inferred from that reply that the armed forces of the Congolese levies are not under unified command, like other troops in the Congo?
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, the Congolese national army, some units of which are now serving under United Nations command in Katanga, originally received training under Belgian officers.
§ LORD BARNBYIs it to be inferred from that that they would not have had any training from any of the Western countries named in my Question?
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, they received all their training from 174 Belgian officers, not from any of those other countries which my noble friend has listed in his Question.