Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Following a number of questions in the Dáil on this matter, including some from Deputy Finian McGrath, I undertook to have the military archive examined in relation to the Niemba ambush and to revert with the findings.

The question arising was whether Trooper Browne was killed at the Niemba ambush or survived for a few days and was killed near a village where he was foraging for food. A recently published book, The Irish Army in the Congo 1960-1964: The Far Battalions, outlines the second version and draws on material from the unit history for its account. This differs from the long held understanding that nine members of the Defence Forces died at Niemba.

Accordingly, I requested the military authorities to examine the relevant files and they have returned with the following information. The unit history referred to, which was written six years after the event, holds many differing accounts of how Trooper Browne met his untimely death and does not attempt to reconcile them. It includes an account that Trooper Browne survived past the initial action for two days and was killed approximately three miles from the site of the action. However, this information was not included in the Dáil replies because, I am informed, it is not supported by any independent sources.

In November 1961 the Tribunal de Première Instance d'Elizabethville convicted five Baluba tribesmen of killing Trooper Browne and eight others on 8 November 1960. Information from Baluba survivors in Manona hospital in 1960 led investigators to believe Trooper Browne was killed at Niemba and his body had been removed from the scene by the ambushers. It was a Baluba custom to bear away from the field of battle their most courageous victim. It was decided that, on the balance of probability, Trooper Browne died on the battlefield in an attempt to save his comrades' lives. What remains incontrovertible is that Trooper Browne died, directly or indirectly, as a result of the Niemba engagement.

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