§ 2.38 p.m.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will propose to the Commonwealth Secretariat that it should approach the African Member States with a view to the appointment by them of a Commission of Good Offices to assist in bringing about a settlement of the constitutional confrontation in Nigeria.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS (LORD BESWICK)No, my Lords. While we are deeply concerned to see a peaceful settlement of the present difficulties in Nigeria, it is our view that any request for a Commonwealth Secretariat initiative should come from the Nigerians themselves.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that Answer, is it not the case that the Commonwealth Secretariat has already made an approach on these matters? Was not the answer in the case of the Eastern Government that they rejected mediation by the Commonwealth Secretariat because in their view the problem was essentially African, and the answer on the part of the Federal Government that they rejected mediation by Heads of State as implying that Eastern Nigeria was a sovereign State? Would not the proposal in my Question meet both these objections by placing the responsibility on the African States of the Commonwealth for the appointment of a Commission, which could well consist not of heads of government, but of senior civil servants?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I am not aware of any proposal having been made by the Commonwealth Secretariat. Of course, I am not in a position to speak on their behalf in any sense. However, I am certain that they would be very happy to give of their good offices, but in view of the circumstances the invitation must come from Nigeria.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, is it not a fact that fighting has broken out between the Federal Government and the Eastern Government, and that there was a raid yesterday or early this morning on Eastern territory from the North by Northern troops? In these circumstances, is it not essential, in view of 644 Commonwealth solidarity, that some suggestion such as the noble Lord, Lord Brockway, has made should be put into effect? We really cannot fiddle all the time while Rome is burning.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I do not think that the reluctance of Her Majesty's Government to intervene in the affairs of a fellow Commonwealth country is necessarily to be described as "fiddling". As for the situation there at the present time, my understanding is that the situation is tense and although there was a report in this morning's newspapers of an incident, I understand that it was an isolated one and that in general there is no violence.
§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, may I refer to something which the noble Lord said in answer to the noble Lord, Lord Brockway? Is he seriously suggesting that the Commonwealth Secretariat could have made proposals for mediation without the knowledge of Her Majesty's Government or other members of the Commonwealth?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I do not think that the noble Lord can take what I said as a serious suggestion of that kind. What I in fact said was that I have no information about this but I am not in a position to prove a negative.
§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, with great respect, I think that this is important. Surely the Government know whether the Commonwealth Secretariat have or have not proposed mediation?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, what I know is that a senior member of the Secretariat has visited Nigeria. Precisely what conversations may have taken place I do not know. To the best of my knowledge and belief there has been no initiative of the kind described by my noble friend from the Secretariat as such.
§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, I apologise to the noble Lord, but will he give an assurance that the Commonwealth Secretariat are not in a position to offer mediation without the authority of the Governments of the Commonwealth.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, the noble Lord is moving into a field of affairs which is as yet not completely charted. Naturally it would be wrong for any major initiative to take place without the 645 consent of all the Commonwealth countries. The Secretariat—or I should say the Commonwealth members—do not meet together regularly. They have no continuous corporate existence at all. But it is quite possible that a senior member of the Secretariat might make helpful suggestions. Frankly, I do not believe that what my noble friend has said is a fact, but I should not like categorically to say that it is not true unless I had had an opportunity of checking it.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether it is not a fact that the deputy secretary of the Commonwealth Secretariat has been in Nigeria, has seen representatives both of the Federal Government and the Eastern Government, and has received replies from them in the terms of my supplementary question?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, it is perfectly true that the deputy, secretary went to Nigeria, a fact to which I referred in a reply which I gave to the noble Lord some weeks ago. What I think is less certain is that there has been any formal exchange of proposals or refusals. Certainly there has been none to my knowledge. In any case, I would emphasise that while we want to have a peaceful settlement, I do not think that such a settlement can he achieved if it appears that the United Kingdom are trying to arrange what the Commonwealth Secretariat do or do not do. We have no special relationship with the Secretariat.
§ LORD ROWLEYMy Lords, would my noble friend make it quite clear that there can be no objection to a senior official of the Secretariat making an exploratory visit to any scene of potential trouble, such as exists in Nigeria, and reporting?
§ LORD BESWICKCertainly, my Lords, there is absolutely no objection to that. Indeed, the Secretary-General has returned only this weekend from Africa. If he can have helpful conversations, that is fine. If the Commonwealth Secretariat are asked to take some sort of initiative in this present Nigerian situation, so far as we are concerned, that is fine, too. All I am saying—and I am surprised that the noble Lord opposite tries to get me to go further—is that we, the United Kingdom, do not think it will be helpful 646 if we appear to be pressing the Secretariat to take any particular line of action.
§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, I am not pressing the noble Lord to take any action whatever. But I hope he is aware that we on this side of the House are somewhat surprised at some of the answers that he has given. Will he not confirm that the Commonwealth Secretariat are the servants of the Commonwealth? He has repeated twice that he does not know what the Commonwealth Secretariat are doing. That is an astonishing admission from Her Majesty's Government.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, if I may say so to the noble Lord, it is rather astonishing that he is trying to twist my words in the way that he is.
§ LORD CARRINGTONI am not.
§ LORD BESWICKCertainly the noble Lord is. To say that I do not know what they are doing is quite unwarranted. All I am saying is that I am not aware of the particular action that my noble friend has said has been taken.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, let us put aside this conflict, which seems to me to be not of the greatest importance compared with the terrible importance of saving the situation in Nigeria, where there has already been a massacre greater than that of the Israeli losses in the recent war, and where there is great danger of civil war throughout Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the proud members of our Commonwealth. Surely the Government will take every possible step to try to prevent this tragedy from occurring.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for putting in proportion his earlier remarks and my response to them. So far as the latter part of his supplementary is concerned, of course I accept the seriousness of the situation, in so far as we had a fine and hopeful country which is now facing these difficult problems. But he must not construe anything that I have said—nor must the noble Lord opposite—as being in any way a matter of complacency. It is not that at all. It is simply our belief that an initiative from this country at this time would not be the most fruitful line of advance.
§ LORD BYERSMy Lords, surely any member of the Commonwealth is at liberty to make a suggestion to the Secretariat as to what would he considered wise action. What is there which prevents the British Government as a member, not a greater or lesser member than any other, from making this suggestion of a Commission of Good Offices?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, this is true I suppose it is possible for some people to strike public postures and achieve nothing, while it is possible for others to go about their affairs more quietly and get greater results.
§ VISCOUNT DILHORNEMy Lords, did not the noble Lord say that he did not know whether the Commonwealth Secretariat had put forward a suggestion of mediation? That is what I understood he did say, quite positively, in an earlier answer. If that be his answer, is it not quite extraordinary that a matter of this sort should have taken place, if it did take place, without the knowledge of Her Majesty's Government?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, the noble and learned Viscount, who I know is always fair and precise, will recall that something more precise was suggested here. There has been no offer of mediation from the Secretariat as a corporate body, but whether a particular suggestion was made by a particular member of the Secretariat, I do not know. I shall check on that.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, would the noble Lord agree that his answers seem to show complete complacency on the part of the Government in this serious situation? Is the noble Lord aware that the population of Nigeria makes it the largest black African country in Africa—it is the key to Africa—and that anything we can do, as we are old friends of Nigeria, will be most important?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I am sorry that the noble Lord construes what I have said as complacent. This is not warranted. If we can do anything usefully, certainly we shall do it; but the invitation for any special initiative from the Secretariat must come from the Nigerian Government itself.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, may I—
§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD SHACKLETON)My Lords, I think it is right that I should intervene.
§ LORD BROCKWAYI am not going to put a question.
§ LORD SHACKLETONWe have spent a long time on this Question. I am sure that all your Lordships are fully aware of its importance, but since there is some doubt as to the construction put on my noble friend's answers I would suggest that it might repay noble Lords on both sides of the House to study what he has said, and if they are then not satisfied and wish to return to it, to do so on another day.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, I was not going to put another supplementary question; I was going to give notice that, in view of the terribly urgent importance of this issue, I will at the first moment put down an Unstarred Question so that we may have a debate on it.