asked the Minister for External Affairs if, in view of recent reports of the imminence of renewed fighting in the Congo, it is the intention of the Government to permit Irish troops to take part in such operations.
12.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Congo Situation: Irish Community in Rhodesia.
11.
asked the Minister for External Affairs if he is aware that there is a large Irish community in Northern Rhodesia adjoining Katanga; and if he has taken any steps to ascertain how Irish exiles there are likely to be affected in the event of hostilities breaking out in Katanga.
With your permission, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 12 together.
I have no information which would lead me to believe that the United Nations Forces in Katanga are likely to be subjected to attack.
As is well known, the Irish and other UN troops are in the Congo on the invitation of the Congolese Government and in pursuance of the resolutions of the Security Council. Their prime duty is to help maintain world peace by preventing foreign intervention of any sort in any part of the Congo and to help maintain the conditions of peace and order which are essential to enable the Congolese people to complete their negotiations on the draft constitution now accepted in principle by all sections of the Congolese people. If the UN forces were attacked in the course of fulfilling their duties they would of course have to repulse their attackers and I feel certain they would do so speedily and effectively.
I see no reason why Irish civilians living in Northern Rhodesia should become involved in any situation likely to occur in the Congo.
Arising out of the Minister's reply, has his attention been directed to numerous reports emanating from New York as to the intentions of the present Secretary-General to increase pressure on Katanga with a view to enhancing the authority of the Central Government? If so, could he reassure the House that, without some further agreed action by the Security Council, there will be no invocation of force on the part of the armed forces of the United Nations, unless and until express authority for that purpose is given by the Security Council?
I have, of course, seen a number of reports in the papers, and some of them are far from being accurate. The Secretary General is bound by the Resolutions of the United Nations and of the Security Council, and I feel certain that he will live up to, and live within, the powers conferred on him and the duties imposed upon him by these Resolutions. I have placed in the Library a copy of the Report to the Secretary General from the Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations operation in the Congo. It is dated 26th November. The report can, I think, on the whole be regarded as favourable and hopeful. In it the Deputy will see the answer which the Secretary General received from Mr. Tshombe of Katanga, in which he first acknowledged the Secretary General's plan, including the methods of dealing with the new constitution and he said, in the course of the letter to the Secretary General:
In virtue of the hallowed right of the Katanga people to self-determination, the Government of Katanga declares that it welcomes enthusiastically the decision to give the Congo a federal constitution. Since it desires to fulfil that general aim, it wholeheartedly supports the plan as a whole, which sets out the general principles governing the solutions which will have to be formulated.
Later in the same letter, he says:
The proposals of the plan lay the foundations of a Congo that can survive.
The letter Concludes:
The Katanga Government itself is sure that the plan proposed by the United Nations marks a decisive step towards a really federal solution of the Congo crisis, and ushers in the new era in which Katanga, with its public order and its economy secure, will be able to contribute to the well-being of all the peoples of the federation.
May I take it that the Leader of the Labour Party and I may continue to depend, lest there be any radical alteration in the situation during the recess, on our being informed by the Government?
Of course.