§ Mr. BaldryTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many United Kingdom troops were engaged in United Nations peace keeping duties on 1 January in each of the last five years; and in what locations they were engaged and by the authority of which United Nations resolutions. [45463]
§ Dr. ReidI refer the hon. Member to the letter I sent to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Hancock) on 17 November 1997, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House. The only change, as of 1 January 1998, to the figures quoted in my letter for UK Service personnel serving on current UN peacekeeping operations is the addition of five in UNFICYP (Cyprus), making a total of 409. Since 1 January, however, the numbers of UK personnel deployed in UNFICYP has166W reduced from 409 to 312 to allow the integration of a Dutch contingent of 102 personnel. And in UNOMIG, following a UN freeze on the rotation of personnel due to the deterioration in the security situation in Georgia, the number of UK personnel deployed has reduced from seven to one.
The additional information requested on the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs) for peacekeeping operations on which United Kingdom troops were deployed in the last five years is as follows:
UNFICYP (Cyprus)—UNSCR 186;
UNIKOM (Iraq)—UNSCR 689;
UNOMIG (Georgia)—UNSCR 858;
UNPROFOR (Croatia/Bosnia)—UNSCR 743;
UNCRO (Croatia)—UNSCR 981;
UNAVEM III (Angola)—UNSCR 976;
MINURSO (Western Sahara)—UNSCR 690.