§ Mr. Wallasked the First Secretary of State if he will give the figures of political disorders or incidents and the number of people fatally injured in these incidents in the past six months in Northern Rhodesia.
§ Mr. BrookeIn the absence of the First Secretary of State, I have been asked to reply.
Between 1st January and 25th June there were 1,257 incidents with some political implication. The bulk of these, however, were of a comparatively minor nature. Incidents of a serious and clearly political nature amounted to 108. Twenty persons have lost their lives as a direct result of political disturbances, and seven more in incidents which may have had a political origin.
The Government of Northern Rhodesia announced on 25th June the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry to ascertain the causes of unrest in the urban areas of the Western Province and to recommend the means of bringing this unrest to an end.