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plan to achieve this is shown at Annex B.
DOP Note 706/70
Draft (Continued
This plan would require
the agreement of Commander-in-Chief Far East and the Singapore
Government and it would be most desirable to return 42 Cdo RM to
Singapore in mid-December.
33. Brunei. One Gurkha Battalion is stationed in Brunei under
the terms of the current Defence Treaty. Negotiations over the
future of this Defence Treaty with the Sultan of Brunei are about
to start and it is not considered politically acceptable for this
unit to be withdrawn at the present time.
Anguilla and Antigua
34. Besides the one field squadron RE there is a detachment RAF
Regiment deployed in Anguilla and Antigua. These units are fully
employed and it is considered that for both political and military
reasons it would be unacceptable for them to be withdrawn.
In any
case the contribution they could make to filling the Northern
Ireland commitment would, because of their size, be very small.
British Honduras
35. One strong company group is stationed in British Honduras on a
7 month unaccompanied tour. The political climate has eased and
there is no immediate threat from Guatemala but negotiations over
the border dispute are currently being undertaken and we do not
believe that this is an appropriate time for this unit to be
withdrawn.
DISCUSSION
36. From the above it will be seen that only one major unit
can be found from overseas deployments to relieve units in Northern
Ireland in the short term. This is 42 Cdo RM which we believe
could be returned to the UK by mid-September.
This would be too
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Private notes are available after approval.