HL Deb 21 June 1967 vol 283 cc1384-5
LORD SALTOUN

My 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 how many persons of British nationality were killed or injured by violence in Aden and the South Arabian Federation in the fifteen months preceding February 22, 1966, and also in the succeeding fifteen months.]

THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD SHACKLETON)

My Lords, the figures for the Federation of South Arabia, which includes Aden, are 23 killed and 210 injured before February 22, 1966, and 32 killed and 525 injured in the succeeding fifteen months.

LORD SALTOUN

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his Answer, and I am sure that he deplores the figures just as much as I do. I would ask one further question. Do Her Majesty's Government share the view that when one Power hands over the government of the population to another Power, it is essential that there should be no widespread civil unrest or rebellion among the population handed over, since the incoming Power will have no possible chance of starting good constitutional government on taking office?

LORD SHACKLETON

My Lords, it is certainly desirable in the extreme if it is possible; and indeed it is the object of Her Majesty's Government, in the policy Statement which I announced to your Lordships' House on Monday, to provide for a stable handover. But it is, perhaps, a bad moment for me to speculate further at present on this matter.