The stationing of UK troops in Brunei also allows them to undertake extreme environment training.
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| Prime Minister David Cameron (R) and the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah (L) shake hands after signing a defence cooperation agreement between the United Kingdom and Brunei following talks at Chequers, the prime mininster's residence near Aylesbury, north west of London |
Britain will continue to station troops in Brunei for a further five years to help maintain the armed forces' permanent presence in South Asia, Downing Street has said.
Prime Minister David Cameron renewed the long-standing agreement during a meeting with the Sultan of Brunei at Chequers.
The stationing of UK troops in Brunei also allows them to undertake extreme environment training.
Following the meeting this morning, a No 10 spokeswoman said: "The Prime Minister welcomed His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei to Chequers this morning. They agreed to renew a long-standing agreement to station UK troops at a garrison in Brunei for a further five years.
"The PM noted that the garrison enables the UK to provide a permanent presence in South Asia while also providing an opportunity for British forces to undertake extreme environment training."
The UK has had a contingent of Gurkhas in Brunei since 1962 and there are currently around 2,000 personnel based in the country.
Following Bruneian independence in 1984, Britain agreed to continue to station an infantry battalion in the Sultanate, a deal which is renewed every five years.
The garrison includes a resident infantry battalion - currently the First Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles, Training Team Brunei, which provides training to members of the British Armed Forces, and a small number of British loan service personnel who serve with the Bruneian Armed Forces.
Mr Cameron also discussed action against Islamist extremists with the Sultan of Brunei during the talks.
"It is absolutely clear that what we need to be doing around the world is working with other countries to tackle this growing threat from Islamist extremists and their poisonous ideology wherever we find it," said the spokeswoman.
Asked whether the weekend's events made Mr Cameron regret his decision to commit UK military forces in Libya in 2011, the Number 10 spokeswoman said: "This was a country where people were being oppressed by a dictator, where they were not able to pursue their aspirations and have their voice heard for a democratic and peaceful Libya.
"The actions we took there and the decision to intervene was an international one."
Libya is currently engulfed by political uncertainty and violent power struggles, with the unrest seen as the worst since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to the country, said IS has established a presence in the country following the "disappearance of legitimate authority".
However, he stressed the scale of IS's influence appears to be "limited" and played down the possibility of the militant group building a power base similar to those it established in Syria and Iraq.
Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK, condemned the brutality as "plunging the world back into a medieval time".
The Archbishop of Canterbury called the beheading of Christian hostages in Libya by Islamic State (IS, or Isis), shootings in Denmark and a suicide bombing in Nigeria "terrible cruelty".
Sumber - Telegraph
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