The Government of the Congo Republic (Leopoldville) is standing by its previous decision to include Israel among the six nations she had asked to help retain and reorganize the Congolese army and navy, it was learned here today. The announcement that “we are standing pat” was made to the United Nations Advisory Committee on the Congo by Congolese Minister of Justice Justin Momboko.
Arab delegations have objected to the inclusion of Israel in the army retraining plan which called for Israel to train paratroopers for the Congo army. At the same time, the Soviet Union has objected to the fact that the other five countries involved in the plan–Canada, Norway, Italy, Belgium and the United States–are all NATO members. The plan envisaged that the U. S. A. would provide only equipment and logistics for the retraining courses.
The entire issue is now up to the Secretary General to decide. If the UN rules that it will not permit the Congo plan to operate under a United Nations “umbrella,” it was understood, following Mr. Momboko’s statement, that the Leopoldville Government will proceed with the project through bilateral agreements with each of the six countries concerned, including Israel.
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