Africa (Soviet and Cuban Presence) (Hansard, 26 April 1978)

§ 2. Mr. Rifkind
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will now raise at the United Nations the continuing presence of Soviet and Cuban military personnel in Angola and Ethiopia as a potential threat to world peace.

§ 14. Mr. William Shelton
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will raise in the Security Council of the United Nations as a threat to world peace the presence of Russian and Cuban troops in the Horn of Africa and the continuing fighting betwen Ethiopia and Eritrea.

§ Dr. Owen
The Government have made clear their concern at the scale and nature of Soviet and Cuban military involvement in Africa and share the view of the OAU that disputes within Africa should be settled by African States themselves. We have made it clear that we believe the Security Council could play a helpful role provided there were sufficient international backing to make it effective.

§ Mr. Rifkind
Does the Foreign Secretary seriously doubt that if 17,000 British or American troops had been in Angola or Ethiopia the matter would have been raised in the United Nations months ago as a threat to world peace? Does he accept that brave speeches at banquets at the Mansion House are no justification for not raising the matter at the United Nations, where it really makes a difference? What has to happen before the present British Government will raise this matter in the Security Council?

§ Dr. Owen
A sovereign country is entitled to ask others in to defend its borders. I think, therefore, that we have to make a distinction between the presence of Cubans in Ethiopia, in relation to Somalia, and any involvement of the Cubans in the internal issues of Ethiopia involved in Eritrea. In that case I have made my views very clear—that I think it would be totally unjustified. But it is a very dangerous precedent to establish that no sovereign nation can invite in troops from outside. That is something that we would not wish to hold.

§ Mr. Litterick
Is the Foreign Secretary aware that at a recent meeting held in this building with an all-party group of Members and the Cuban Ambassador, the ambassador made it clear to the Members present that should Ethiopian troops set foot outside the territory of Ethiopia, Cuba would withdraw all military personnel from Ethiopia, just as Cuba did from Somalia when Somalian troops invaded Ethiopia?

§ Dr. Owen
I have received that assurance, and I am grateful that there has been no major territorial incursion across the Somalia-Ethiopia border, but the Cubans have got to recognise that hitherto they have been supporting the Eritrean freedom fighters and that it would be a major change of policy if they were now suddenly to involve themselves in military disputes. I detect that they are having discussions with the Eritreans—I note that it has been reported in Havana—and I hope that they will use their influence to mediate to get a negotiated settlement.

§ Mr. Blaker
Having just returned from Namibia, may I put to the Secretary of State a question which arises out of the presence of the Soviet and Cuban forces in Angola? Now that the South African Government have accepted the Western plan for Namibia, will the Western Powers be pressing the Soviet Union to use its undoubted influence with SWAPO, which operates from Angolan bases, so that SWAPO will also accept the Western plan and renounce its policy of intimidation by assassination?

§ Dr. Owen
I welcome the South African decision, and I hope that it is followed by SWAPO. It is fair to say that Angola has, throughout, played a constructive role in the discussions. It obviously made no secret of the fact that it supports SWAPO, but it has indicated that it would like a negotiated settlement, and that is hopeful.

§ Mr. Grocott
Faced, however, as he is, with increasingly bellicose noises from the Opposition about the presence of Soviet troops in various countries, does my right hon. Friend ever receive any concrete suggestions from the Opposition Front Bench on how those troops should be removed?

§ Dr. Owen
It is important to keep the whole question in proportion. I am very worried about the effects of Soviet troops in Africa and the ability to switch the balance of power in Africa very rapidly, as happened in the Horn of Africa. On the other hand, we have to recognise that they have the right to be in Africa, as we do. What I object to is that the Soviet influence in Africa, as in other parts of the world, is not devoted to the welfare of the citizens through development aid and through humanitarian help, but a large portion of their financial effort and backing is made through military supplies.

§ Mr. Luce
Whilst fully supporting the Foreign Secretary's speech at the Mansion House, in which he condemned the destructive Soviet and Cuban military intervention in Africa, may I say to him that it is deeds rather than words that will carry credibility with the Soviet Union? Will he now tell the House, particularly in the light of President Brezhnev's speech recently, in which he said that Soviet military intervention in Africa would be stepped up, what action the British Government propose to take to expose at the United Nations the nature of the Soviet and Cuban threat to international peace in the Horn of Africa and in other parts of Africa?

§ Dr. Owen
One can go to the United Nations but, as the hon. Gentleman knows, there is very little point in going to the Security Council—which is what we envisaged over the Ethiopian and Somalian dispute—if that means having the whole of the African group against us. The OAU has played a useful and important role in mediating between Ethiopia and Somalia. We have to get this whole question in proportion. Our best way of combating Soviet influence in Africa is not to put ourselves in the wrong, and not to do what a lot of Opposition Members wanted me to do, which was to support Somalia when it put its troops into the Ogaden.