ADEN

HC Deb 13 February 1967 vol 741 cc99-105

Lord Balniel

(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the situation in Aden.

The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. George Brown)

The situation in Aden, despite all the calls to violence which had been made from various sources, remains nevertheless quieter than may have been expected. There have been, I regret to say, a number of incidents in which local police and citizens have been killed and wounded and British troops have been wounded. This I deplore. I feel bound to say to those who are either instigating or encouraging these activities that it is both ridiculous and wicked. The world knows that we shall be leaving Aden by 1968, and it should be the duty of everybody concerned to help us to leave it in good order and with a stable Government able to carry on from there.

Lord Balniel

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that statement. Will he confirm Press reports that during the weekend nine people were killed and 30 Arabs wounded and that 16 British soldiers were wounded? Is it not clear that the purpose of the National Liberation Front is to create a state of chaos in Aden, so that when the British withdrawal takes place next year the Federation will be vulnerable to attack from outside? Does not this situation arise at least partially from the basic policy error of the British Government in announcing the decision to withdraw next year without making proper provision for the defence of the Federation? As this is now becoming one of the danger points in the world, will the Government very carefully reexamine their whole policy towards the Federation and Aden?

Mr. Brown

The Opposition are consistently and constantly pressurising us to cut down our expenditure. It cannot be cut down without problems having to be faced. One of the problems follows from this. We believe that it is right that we should leave Aden. We believe, as, I think, the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Powell) believes, that we should say so and that we should orientate our policies that way. Having come to that conclusion, we then have to face the consequences. I said in my statement that those who are engaged in either instigating or supporting or encouraging these outbreaks of violence should themselves face the fact that it is both ridiculous and wicked to do so.

I regret to say that over the weekend nine local nationals were killed and about 30 injured. I am told that one civilian policeman was killed and about 13 injured and that 13 British Service men were injured, mostly by grenade fragments. I regret this very deeply, but I do not believe that it makes our policy wrong. I believe that we should say to those abroad, "Stop it and do not be so wicked".

Mr. Heath

Does the Foreign Secretary realise that he is giving the impression, which, in all fairness to him, he does not usually give, of very great complacency about the issue of Aden? Nobody has ever pressurised the Government to withdraw and leave a vacuum and chaos, the situation which is rapidly developing in Aden. Does he think that to appeal to those who are causing these troubles not to do so will be effective, when they want to see chaos in the short term in Aden in order to interfere in its internal policies? Is he aware that the scale of casualties since the end of 1966 is now well over 50 killed and 600 injured? Does he not agree that the only way to deal with this situation is to make it plain that the British Government will carry out their obligations there until the Federation and Aden can defend themselves?

Mr. Brown

I repeat that the scale of violence over the weekend was much less than we might have expected. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."] Yes, indeed. Therefore, to that extent those who were appealing for, calling for, greater violence have failed, and there is no reason why we should not say that and note it.

We are not coming out of Aden and leaving a vacuum. On the contrary, we are providing the South Arabian Government with a considerable amount of aid and defence aid so that it can enable itself to be stable. The best role which we can play in this situation is to encourage the local people to stand on their own feet rather than to rely upon us to carry out their defence for them.

Mr. Mayhew

If, as my right hon. Friend suggested, a major motive in our leaving Aden is to cut expenditure, why, are we increasing expenditure in the Persian Gulf after leaving Aden? How, if we leave Aden so abruptly next year, can we expect to maintain ourselves in the Persian Gulf thereafter?

Mr. Brown

It seemed to us, during the days when my hon. Friend was a member of the Government, a very sensible thing to do that in moving from one place we should make provision somewhere else so that we could carry out our continuing obligations in that area of the world. I make it plain that in doing it where we are doing it, it will cost us a good deal less than it was costing us in Aden.

Mr. Heath

Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that a state of affairs in which the curfew was taken off to restore the situation, but because of these casualties had immediately to be re-imposed, does not justify the optimistic view which he is taking? Does he not realise that this situation causes anxiety not only to the Opposition but also to our friends in the Persian Gulf and our allies in the United States? Will he therefore seriously reconsider this policy?

Mr. Brown

The right hon. Gentleman has to face one problem: do we try to stay in every place for ever? These problems arise when we decide to come out, and it is literally no use going round saying that we should cut our overseas commitments and be unwilling to face the consequences of cutting them. This is such a consequence. We are handling it as well as we may. I repeat that the consequences are a good deal less than what was forecast at the beginning.

Mr. Hooley

Would my right hon. Friend inform the House of the progress of the United Nations Mission to Aden? Would he also consider negotiating some kind of interim United Nations supervision or administration during the transition period?

Mr. Brown

We are trying very hard to get agreement on a United Nations Commission to go there. I am doing everything I personally can to ensure that the Commission will be acceptable and should get out there as quickly as it can.

Mr. Sandys

However much more violence the Foreign Secretary may have expected, is it not a fact that terrorism and intimidation have increased on a massive scale since the Government announced their premature withdrawal and that this is being organised from Cairo? Do the Government really propose to give absolutely no assurance to South Arabia of any protection against a Nasserite take-over after independence?

Mr. Brown

We have on this a clear position and a much clearer conscience that the right hon. Gentleman must have had—

Mr. Sandys

Broken pledge.

Mr. Brown

We have no Suez on our conscience. To a very large extent, I would tell the right hon. Gentleman, we are still paying for the follies of Suez. I have no intention of staying in Aden when we have no need to stay in Aden, when it prevents a country coming to self-dependence. What I intend to do, quite contrary to the right hon. Gentleman's action when he was a Minister, is to enable them to come to independence, to give them the support I can—

Mr. Sandys

I promised them independence.

Mr. Brown

—to give them the help I can give them and then to get out and let them run their own affairs.

Mr. Luard

Is it not a fact that the scale of violence would have been much greater, the number of casualities many times larger and the violence continued over many more years if the Government had refused to evacuate Aden as the Opposition have suggested?

Mr. Brown

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There are many examples of this being true. Cyprus, of course, is one of them.

Mr. Powell

Does the right hon. Gentleman recollect that from the beginning, from the first announcement by the Government, the Opposition have consistently warned that this would be the deplorable and tragic outcome of the Government's premature announcement of their intention to leave Aden?

Mr. Brown

I am most surprised that the right hon. Gentleman should so prostitute himself as to make that remark.

Mr. Dickens

Is my right hon. Friend aware that this firm reaffirmation of Government policy to leave Aden by 1968 will be warmly welcomed by those of us on this side of the House and by the immense majority of sensible people in the country? Would he tell the House how the economic aid programme for Aden between now and next year—and subsequently—will dovetail with the defence run-down?

Mr. Brown

We are carrying on aid—we told them that we would—for several years after 1968 so that they can arrange their affairs accordingly. This is being done.

Sir A. V. Harvey

We all want to see reductions made, but does it make sense, when there are 55,000 troops in the Far East and a similar number in Germany, to leave an area which may be chaotic, when these vast numbers of troops elsewhere are not really needed?

Mr. Brown

It makes absolute sense, in our national policy, in our policy towards other areas of the world, to leave the Aden base. There are other ways of taking care of our interests in that part of the world and we can relieve the taxpayers of a good deal of the burden which they are now carrying. I therefore think that this decision is absolutely right.

Mr. Winnick

While we all deplore the violence over the weekend, would my right hon Friend not agree that a political solution must be found by which the local nationalists are brought into the Government? Would he not agree that the proposed federation for this part of the world is totally disliked by the local population in Aden and is a non-starter?

Mr. Brown

Of course, I agree that the local nationalists—whatever one means by that term—should be part of the Government which takes over after we leave. We are doing our best to encourage the establishment of a stable representative Government before we go, and I am all in favour of those nationalists who have left the country and gone elsewhere coming back to play their full part in local political events.

Sir F. Bennett

As the right hon. Gentleman seems so satisfied with the present position, can he give any indication of how many more innocent lives have to be lost between now and 1968 before he will agree to review his policy?

Mr. Brown

I am not satisfied, and I did not say that I was: I said that I deplored what was happening. I pay my tribute to the courage of the High Commissioner, who must by now have survived about five overt attempts on his life, and to that of our local troops. I am not complacent about this at all. I deplore the attacks which are being made, but I believe that the policy which we are carrying out is the right one, and I applaud our Forces for helping us to carry it out.