Member states of the United Nations the membership of the USSR in the Security Council and all other UN organs was being continued by the Russian Federation with the support of the 11 member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The other fourteen independent states established from the former Soviet Republics were all admitted to the UN: Both Egypt and Syria joined the UN as original members on 24 October 1945. Following a plebiscite on 21 February 1958, the United Arab Republic was established by a union of Egypt and Syria and continued as a single member. On 13 October 1961, Syria, having resumed its
United Nations Operation in the Congo Egyptian battalion appears to have arrived by September 1960, but left by early 1961 after a dispute about the UN's role. On 26 January 1961, the Secretary-General reported that the government of the United Arab Republic (the Egyptian-Syrian union) had made an oral request that it's contingent, numbering approximately 510 officers and men, be repatriated by 1 February. It appears the contingent, a parachute battalion, was located in January 1961 at Lisala in Equateur Province, where visits of UAR Ilyushin aircraft caused concern. During the first three years of its operation, ONUC managed to successfully improve the internal security of