Tanzania

HC Deb 19 March 1970 vol 798 cc588-9

9. Mr. John Fraser

asked the Minister of Overseas Development if she will now resume aid to Tanzania.

Mrs. Hart

I am very ready to discuss with the Tanzania Government the resumption of aid.

Mr. Fraser

Is my right hon. Friend aware that that is a most welcome reply? Can she give any idea when the full programme of aid will be resumed to a country which is pioneering independence and self-help and is a beacon of independence among so much repression in South Africa.

Mrs. Hart

I hope soon. I have had one or two informal discussions about this matter. The Tanzanian Government will now wish to consider which part they would like British aid to play in their development plans, and we shall be ready to receive their view when they have arrived at it.

Mr. Biggs-Davison

If it is right to consider resuming aid to Tanzania, where there are terrorist camps and a cruel dictatorship in Zanzibar, why is it right to withhold it from Lesotho and to discriminate against that friendly Commonwealth country on what clearly are political grounds?

Mrs. Hart

As I have said already, the question affecting Lesotho is one of whether we feel it right at this stage to recognise a Government in a situation which is far from clear. The situation about Tanzania is that we are delighted to be able to get back to aid to that country because, in developmental terms, it is one of the best countries in Africa. For the rest, I must leave the hon. Gentleman to make his own political judgment.

Mr. Braine

If the situation in Lesotho is far from clear, what sense is there in instructing the High Commissioner to have no formal communication with the Government there?

Mrs. Hart

That is a question for my right hon. Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, as the hon. Gentleman knows. He must surely be aware that communications between high commissioners or ambassadors and Governments is linked with the question of the recognition of the Governments with whom they are communicating.

Mr. Biggs-Davison

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the Minister's replies, I beg to give notice that I shall seek to raise the matter again.