Whiff of racism from Fleet Street upset Irish and Zambians

A Daily Mail article from 1972 about the training of Zambian cadets in Ireland upset the Irish and Zambian authorities, according to the State papers in Dublin.

The article entitled "Here come de officers, begorrah!" noted that President Kaunda of Zambia was sending "his brightest young military brains - not to Sandhurst but to the Irish Army Cadet School in Co Kildare". This was seen as a "significant blow" to the British college, according to the article.

It then quoted the commandant of the Irish Army cadet school, Lieut Col Ernest Condon, saying he had noticed that the new trainees displayed "a certain enthusiasm" for Guinness and were carrying it home in bulk after graduation.

Asked if they had any complaints, Lieut Col Condon was quoted as saying, "well, they've never seen snow before".

The first secretary at the Zambian High Commission, Mr Chuunga, contacted the Irish Embassy in London to express his concern over the article.

". . . it did not reflect well on the Zambian cadets, it tended to give a wrong political motivation to Zambia's cadet training programme in Ireland and was not calculated to help Zambia's political relations with Britain," an Embassy official wrote to the Department of Defence.

The article was then described as a "travesty" by the officer quoted, Lieut Col Condon. "The word 'complaint' was NOT mentioned in any context," he wrote.

"Neither was 'Guinness'. In fact, the entire printed report was a travesty of the telephone conversation between Mr Gilchrist [the reporter\] and myself."

But while Guinness may not have been mentioned in the interview, it appears the cadets were returning to Zambia with significantly more luggage than when they arrived.

In 1972, a Department of Defence letter noted that the cadets who were returning home wanted an increase in their excess baggage allowance from 25 to 44 kg per person.

The training of Zambian cadets at the Curragh began when the Zambian and Irish governments struck an agreement in 1968. A spokesman for the Defence Forces said the Army still trained cadets from some African countries from time to time.

The State has released papers containing details of these arrangements, but has forbidden access to other related files. The restricted files document the expulsion of some Zambian cadets and contain details on the bad debts of Zambian cadets.

The only indication of financial problems between the Zambian and Irish authorities in the released files is a Department of Defence memo requesting the "urgent" payment of an advance sum of £5,000 by the Zambian authorities.