§ 3.2 p.m.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government who is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the British Indian Ocean Territory and what rights have been granted to the United States of America in respect of Diego Garcia and in what terms.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, administration of the Territory is the responsibility of the Commissioner, who is the Governor of Seychelles, assisted by the Administrator, and represented on Diego Garcia by the officer commanding the Royal Navy element there. Under the terms of the Exchange of Notes between the United Kingdom and the United States Governments (Cmnd. 5160) presented to Parliament in November 1972, the United States Government has the right to construct, maintain and operate a limited naval communications facility on Diego Garcia.
§ Lord HALEMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that while the British House of Commons has been told that this was to be a staging post, in America it was described as going to be the Malta of the Indian Ocean? Is he also aware that written undertakings had been given to the Indian Government that no such station would ever be erected; that the whole of the Chagos Archipeligo was hived off from the resettlement agreement; that it consists of a large number of islands, many inhabited? Furthermore, is the noble Lord aware that it is a thousand miles from the nearest island of Mauritius, and that it is several hundred miles to the Seychelles?
How on earth is the Governor of the Seychelles to administer an island which has been wholly leased to the United States of America as a military base, and in respect of which Congress has already voted, somewhat reluctantly, 30 million dollars as a first instalment? Would the noble Lord further say whether the whole of this agreement was embodied in the first instance in letters from the British 779 Government to the United States Ambassador in London, with the intention of not listing them in the treaty series, and had there been protests from Mauritius, Seychelles and India?—
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I am sure my noble friend will forgive me if I do not deal with all the points he has raised. In fact I am inclined to accept the suggestion made both by my noble friend the Leader of the House and the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, that possibly we might look at all these points together on a more appropriate occasion, when no doubt the noble Lord, Lord Merrivale, will raise the point to which I was unfortunately unable to give an answer; it was because of a little local difficulty on this Bench. On that occasion perhaps I may be forgiven for not intervening in a war between "Whigs" and Tories!
§ Lord SHINWELLMy Lords, in so far as this matter relates to defence, may I ask my noble friend whether, in view of Soviet designs and obvious intentions in that area, it would not be far better to have the Americans there rather than the Russians?
§ Lord HALEMy Lords, would that suggestion not be equally appropriate to the abandoning of other British territories? Are they to be deprived of their homes, and their livelihood, and their factories and other places of employment? Would the noble Lord, to whom I always listen with the pleasure and affection, recall that the Leader of the House did not make any reference whatever to terminating the discussion on the British Indian Ocean territories, which had not commenced?
§ Lord SHEPHERDMy Lords, my noble friend made a suggestion. This is Question Time, and I hope that my noble friend Lord Hale would take up this matter with my noble friend the Minister. Certainly when Parliament returns for the next Session, if there is a desire for this matter to be debated we shall provide time for it.