U.N. FORCE REDUCED

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29384, 10 December 1960, Page 13

U.N. FORCE REDUCED

Disintegration Predicted (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, December 9. The United Nations Army in the Congo is in danger of disintegrating under tremendous pressures from all sides, according to the “Daily Express.” The Egyptian. Ceylonese, Irish and Jugoslav contingents were being withdrawn or reduced. In Cairo yesterday. President Nasser ordered his 520-man paratroop battalion in the Congo to withdraw from the United Nations command, but he made no order for tee troops to leave the Congo itself, v. It is understood that in future s:ey will operate under the command of Moscow-trained Bernard Salumu, a fervent supporter of Mr Patrice Lumumba, said the "Daily Express.” Mr Salumu controls the Eastern province, which has a border with Sudan. The newspaper connected the withdrawal of the paratroops with an interview given by Mr Khrushchev in Moscow yesterday with the Egyptian Commander-in-Chief, Marshal Amer. The two Irish battalions are to be replaced by one, a Jugo-

Slav air unit is to be withdrawn, and the nine-man token contingent from Ceylon has been ordered home.

The Ceylon Government said it had ordered the recall of its men as a mark of profound dissatisfaction with the course of events in the Congo. “It has been our steadfast view that the legitimate Government of the Congo was the Government of Mr Lumumba, and this dismissal by Mr Kasavubu was invalid,” Ceylon said. Indians to Stay

In New Delhi today, the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Nehru, said that a United Nations withdrawal from the Congo would lead to “absolute c'haos” and “civil war of the worst type.” He told Parliament that the situation in the Congo was “very serious and very dangerous.” Mr Nehru was speaking on a Communist-sponsored adjournment motion on a decision by the United Arab Republic and Ceylon to withdraw their forces from the United Nations command.