Vol. 430 No. 4
109 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Defence the amount owed to this country by the UN for peacekeeping duties; the action, if any, he has taken with the Secretary-General of the UN to have this money recouped; if the issue of the outstanding money will affect our policy of supplying future contingents for UN duties; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
A total of about £13 million is currently due to this Department by the United Nations. Of this amount, £12.1 million relates to involvement in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon — UNIFIL. The remaining shortfall of £0.9 million arises out of participation in the United Nations Peace-Keeping Force in Cyprus — UNFICYP.
The arrears in question are the subject of ongoing representations to the United Nations by the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs made both bilaterally and in conjunction with our partners in the European Community. I wrote recently to the Secretary General of the United Nations regarding the arrears of reimbursements and will continue to pursue this matter vigorously.
While I am very concerned about the considerable sum due to this country by the United Nations, the position regarding requests for additional personnel for UN missions is that any such request will be considered on the merits in the prevailing circumstances.
