ADEN AND THE SOUTH ARABIAN FEDERATION (Hansard, 11 May 1966)

§ LORD BROCKWAY
My Lords, I apologise that I am asking for another statement in the second Question which I have on the Order Paper.

§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (LORD WALSTON)
My Lords, the Government of the Federation of South Arabia are addressing themselves to constitutional problems in the light of the declared policy of Her Majesty's Government that South Arabia shall attain independence as a single State by 1968. Representatives of the Federal Government have recently had discussions in Beirut with representatives of the South Arabian League and certain other nationalist leaders and they hope similarly to have discussions with the authorities of the States in the Eastern Protectorate which do not form part of the Federation. Her Majesty's Government are hopeful that these initiatives will lead to agreement on a basis for constitutional advance 657 in accordance with the general wishes of the peoples of South Arabia.
The security situation in Aden State has deteriorated recently, although in the rest of the Federation the situation is relatively quiet. A five-weeks' lull in terrorist activities in Aden was broken on February 24 when the President of the Aden Trade Union Council was shot and killed in his house. This assassination was followed by a number of grenade attacks and shooting incidents involving death and personal injury which, I regret, still continue. These attacks, which are principally instigated and directed from outside the Federation, are no doubt intended to disrupt life in Aden and to make more difficult the achievement of the political agreement which is the immediate need if South Arabia is to attain independence in an orderly fashion by 1968. Her Majesty's Government will continue to take all practicable measures to ensure law and order in Aden and will at the same time support the efforts of the Federal Government and others to bring about constitutional arrangements which will be generally acceptable and suitable for the independent South Arabia.

§ LORD BROCKWAY
My Lords, may I thank my noble friend for that very full answer and ask him this? Would not the solution of the present tragic situation in Aden and South Arabia be facilitated by the evidence of a desire, both by members of the Federal Government and by the more moderate leaders of the liberation movement, to reach agreement? I am thinking of Al Asnag and others.

§ THE EARL OF LONGFORD
My Lords, I must ask the noble Lord to confine himself to questions. He is now passing right away from anything that can be called a question.

§ LORD BROCKWAY
My Lords, I will try to put questions. I thought I was only giving an explanation. Would it not help if the Government made clear that they propose to withdraw from all military commitments in 1968 when the bases are withdrawn, and to establish full democracy in the Protectorates as well as in Aden?

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, Her Majesty's Government have made their 658 position completely clear, and it is well known to the world at large and to the people of Aden and the whole Federation, in particular. I certainly agree wholeheartedly with my noble friend when he says that the position would be greatly facilitated by all men of good will co-operating towards this end.

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord whether, if in 1968 the South Arabian Government asked Her Majesty's Government to enter into a defence agreement with them, they would be prepared to do so, and if not why not?

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, I think the noble Lord knows perfectly well that we cannot commit ourselves to anything of the form that he suggests, in a hypothetical event in two years' time. By that time, as my right honourable friend the Prime Minister said in another place, the Federation of South Arabia will be an independent country and probably, we hope, a member of the United Nations, and it is through collective security that we hope the peace of that area will be assured.

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, if the noble Lord is not, and if the Government are not, prepared to answer a hypothetical question, then I imagine that the issue is not closed and that it is possible they would be prepared to enter into a defence agreement.

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, it is not for me to say what is possible or impossible in 1968. I am sure the noble Lord agrees that that is going much too far. But I do not want to give him the impression that we are in any way reconsidering at this stage the statements which have already been made on the subject and which make the position completely clear.

§ LORD ALPORT
My Lords, may I ask the Minister whether he means that the British Government's policy is not to enter into any defence agreement with an independent Commonwealth or ex-Commonwealth country? I ask that because there are—are there not?—many precedents for defence agreements being concluded at the time that independence is granted to the country concerned.

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, there are certainly precedents, as the noble 659 Lord has suggested, but our general policy is to restrict our defence engagements so that they are in conformity with our economic potential and what we can do in defence and other spheres throughout the whole world. We wish as much as possible to encourage all peace and defence agreements to be on a multilateral basis, through the United Nations or other organisations, rather than to be simply on the bilateral basis of the sort the noble Lord suggests.