RHODESIA (Hansard, 11 June 1968)

§ Q3. Mr. Ian Lloyd
asked the Prime Minister if he will now make further efforts to negotiate a settlement of the Rhodesian question.

§ Q5. Mr. Wall
asked the Prime Minister if he will make a further statement on Rhodesia in the light of the Whiley Report and the United Nations resolution.

§ Q8. Mr. Archer
asked the Prime Minister what further action is proposed 26 through the United Nations Organisation to end the illegal régime in Rhodesia; and if he will make a statement.

§ The Prime Minister
Our policy regarding a settlement in Rhodesia remains as described by my right hon. Friend the Commonwealth Secretary and myself during the debate on Rhodesia on 27th March. On the question of action through the United Nations I would refer hon. Members to the Answers given by my right hon. Friend the Commonwealth Secretary to Questions on 30th May.— [Vol. 761, c. 1662; Vol. 761, c. 1545; Vol. 765, c. 2135.]

§ Mr. Lloyd
Lest the House may be tempted to conclude from that reply that the right hon. Gentleman enjoys his rôle as the eye in the centre of the typhoon, will he state unequivocally—I know that that is "difficult for him—if he is prepared to resume negotiations with Mr. Smith forthwith?

§ The Prime Minister
The position is exactly as stated in the debate and several times in Answers to Questions since. We have said that we are prepared to consider any possibility arising out of a willingness to implement the six principles. There has so far been little evidence of any willingness to accept the six principles, and in the most recent public statement there was a flat denial of their acceptability to Rhodesia.

§ Mr. Wall
If the Prime Minister will not talk to the Rhodesians, is his policy now to wait until sanctions have caused the Africans to revolt? Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether his Ministers have had any talks with African leaders who organise the freedom fighters-cum-terrorists?

§ The Prime Minister
I see that the hon. Gentleman is very faithfully reporting a speech by Mr. Smith during the Recess. The position is that, appropriately, Commonwealth Office Ministers have had talks with African nationalist organisations in this country and in Lusaka. We do not accept the illegal proscription or detention of Africans carried out by the hon. Gentleman's friends, and it is perfectly appropriate that the Government who have the ultimate responsibility for deciding the fate of Rhodesia in a Parliamentary sense should have 27 talks with representatives of the majority as well as the minority in Rhodesia.

§ Mr. Archer
Can my right hon. Friend say approximately how many countries have initiated action to implement the Security Council Resolution? Will he confirm that right hon. and hon. Members opposite who for months have been declaring that sanctions must be ineffective are likely shortly to find their doubts on that score set at rest?

§ The Prime Minister
I have not had an up-to-date list of the number of countries that have already taken legislative or executive action, but certainly a number of countries quoted by hon. Members opposite as permitting trade with Rhodesia have already taken action. With regard to my hon. Friend's second question, I do not think that there will be any doubt that sanctions are having a considerable effect and that there is great anxiety in Rhodesia about them. No one in the House would want to see sanctions last for a day longer than necessary. As I said to Mr. Smith on H.M.S. " Tiger ", we could have started to unwind sanctions in December, 1966, if he had accepted the terms then proposed to him, which the Conservatives supported him in rejecting.

§ Dr. Winstanley
Is the Prime Minister aware that we on this bench welcome the steps which have just been announced by Her Majesty's Government in order to negotiate the right kind of settlement?

§ The Prime Minister
Yes, Sir. Of course, this is a question of the right kind of settlement. Everyone wants to see a settlement there but that settlement must be in accordance with the principles laid down by the previous Government in this country and accepted by Her Majesty's present Government. These are the principles which the whole House has maintained and if any hon. Members in any part of the House are prepared to rat on those principles, we are not.

§ Mr. Whitaker
Although it is possible that the Monday Club is right and that the unanimous view of the Security Council is wrong, is it not a fact that the Rho-desian Front has rejected the Whaley Report and has come down on the side of permanent white supremacy? Does not this show the futility of further negotiations with Ian Smith? In what way is the 28 United Nations proposing to make sure that the new sanctions are effective?

§ The Prime Minister
I do not think that any hon. Member has suggested that the Whaley Report was consistent with the six principles, but, whereas Mr. Smith showed some desire to accept it, it is clear that pressure from the Right caused him to move into the even more intransigent position which was set out in his interview with the Sunday Telegraph some weeks ago.

§ Mr. Sandys
Will the Prime Minister give a clear answer to the question put to him earlier? Is he or is he not prepared to resume talks with Mr. Smith now with a view to making a further effort to find out whether it is possible to reach a settlement?

§ The Prime Minister
I would refer the right hon. Gentleman to our debate in March, his absence from which we all regret and understand, when I stated the position clearly. I have repeated that position many times since. If we get clear evidence of acceptance of the six principles from those who have the power to talk in Rhodesia, we will be prepared to talk, but every attempt made so far has led either to the rejection of the six principles or, when progress was being made, to a scurrying away under pressure from the Right wing. In any case, we cannot deal with the racialists in Rhodesia.

§ Mr. Tinn
Despite what has been said on the Opposition benches about the ineffectiveness of sanctions, has my right hon. Friend noted the reports from Rhodesia about increasing pressure by business interests on the Smith régime? Would not he agree that, until this kind of pressure for a more realistic attitude by the régime begins to show results, it would be premature to consider further approaches to Rhodesia?

§ The Prime Minister
It is not so much a question of a more realistic attitude by the régime but of a more broadly-based Government such as we proposed to Mr. Smith in the talks on H.M.S. "Tiger" and which at that time he was prepared to contemplate. There is no doubt, from the pressures and very gloomy statements both by the tobacco industry and by the organised chambers of commerce and industry, that sanctions are having a very 29 serious effect. We all regret that they have had to go on so long and that there has been no response by those responsible to the kind of offers made so frequently in accordance with the six principles.