HL Deb 26 July 1965 vol 268 cc1019-21

3.46 p.m.

LORD TAYLOR

My Lords, with your Lordships' permission, I will read a Statement which has just been made in another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations. The Statement is as follows:

"I am glad to be able to inform the House that the negotiations with the Maldivian Government have been successfully concluded, and that a new Anglo-Maldivian Agreement was signed in Colombo this morning.

"By this Agreement, which confirms that the Maldive Islands are a fully independent State, Britain ceases to be responsible for the defence of the Maldive Islands and for the conduct of their political relations with other countries and with international organisations.

"The Agreement confirms Britain's unrestricted and exclusive use of those facilities in Addu Atoll which were accorded under the 1960 Agreement for the purposes of Commonwealth defence.

"I have arranged for copies of this new Agreement to be placed in the Library, and I shall in due course be presenting the text to Parliament for publication as a White Paper.

"I am confident that this satisfactory outcome of the negotiations will mark the beginning of a new and happy era in Anglo-Maldivian relations."

LORD CARRINGTON

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, for repeating this Statement. What is important about Anglo-Maldivian relations is what concerns Addu Atoll and Gan. I probably ought to know this, but may I ask the noble Lord for how long the agreement which we reached in 1960 operates for the use of Gan, and what arrangements there are for its re-negotiation if it is on a fixed term?

LORD TAYLOR

My Lords, I am speaking without having checked as closely as I could, but I think the period covered by the present agreement continues until 1986.

LORD OGMORE

My Lords, I am a little concerned with this situation because, as I understand it, the Gan, if it comes under this agreement, as I believe it does, and Addu Atoll are a very important part of our staging-post arrangements for military aircraft from this country to South-East Asia. I should like to ask the noble Lord whether he is satisfied, and whether the Government are satisfied, if they no longer have the responsibility for the defence of the Maldives, that they can in fact ensure the defence of Gan and the Addu Atoll.

LORD TAYLOR

My Lords, Her Majesty's Government are so satisfied that they can defend Gan and Addu Atoll.

LORD FRASER OF LONSDALE

My Lords, if Britain is not going to defend these islands, may I ask who is?

LORD TAYLOR

My Lords, Britain never had these Islands. They were the property of, and belong to, the people of the Maldives and the Government of the Maldive Islands. They were in the relationship of a protected State.

LORD OGMORE

My Lords, is this not being completely artificial? To think that the Maldive Islands could really defend themselves from a serious attack is just Gilbert and Sullivan. Is it not a fact that, if we are no longer responsible, and no longer have the right to defend them, then we cannot defend our important staging post?

LORD TAYLOR

Our duty will be to defend our staging post if need be, and if the consequence of that is that the Maldive Islands are defended, so much the better.

LORD ALPORT

My Lords, may I say how much I welcome the success of these negotiations, which I am sure have been difficult, as they always have been, and if this is an example of the way in which the Maldivians conduct their relations with other countries I think they are more than capable of looking after their own interests. May I ask two questions? Are we going to have a representative, as we had on the previous agreement at Malé? Secondly, is there any agreement running concurrently with this whereby we continue to assist them, technically and financially, in the development of these remote but attractive islands?

LORD TAYLOR

My Lords, the noble Lord knows a great deal more about these islands than I do, since he played a great part in the earlier agreement. With regard to his first question, there is a clause in the annexure to the agreement under which the Maldivian Government agrees to receive a representative of the United Kingdom, if so requested, at Malé, but for the present both parties to the agreement are happy that the British representative should be Her Majesty's High Commissioner in Ceylon. With regard to the second part of the question, a considerable proportion of the £750,000 set aside for the economic aid scheme to the Maldives, I think largely owing to the initiative of the noble Lord in 1960, has yet to be committed, and until that has been committed fortunately no further question of aid need arise.

LORD CARRINGTON

My Lords, I seem to recollect that the previous discussions about this subject revealed that there had been some considerable trouble with regard to the ex-chief of Addu Atoll, who was, I think, named Nasir.

LORD TAYLOR

He is the present Prime Minister; it was Mr. Afif Didi.

LORD CARRINGTON

There is no bargain, I take it, to hand him over as a result of this agreement?

LORD TAYLOR

My Lords, Mr. Afif Didi is still, I think, in the Seychelles, and it is entirely a matter between Mr. Afif Didi and the Government of the Maldive Islands where he goes and what happens to him.