HL Deb 11 February 1969 vol 299 cc304-6

2.44 p.m.

LORD BROCKWAY

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 whether they support the proposal that the Council of Europe shall investigate the black market in arms and take action to control and end it.]

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, I presume that my noble friend is referring to the Motion for a resolution tabled recently in the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe in the name of my honourable friend the Member for Kingston-upon-Hull (West Division), a draft of which I have only just received. I understand that this Motion has been referred to the Assembly's Political Committee who will consider it in due course, and we shall be better placed subsequently to take a view.

LORD BROCKWAY

My Lords, while thanking my noble friend for his Answer. may I ask whether he is aware that when recently I was in Biafra and Nigeria with the ex-Colonial Secretary, Mr. James Griffiths, we found evidence of a highly financed and organised black market from Europe which was supplying both sides? Is he further aware that we then took the initiative to raise this matter in the Council of Europe, and that a Motion has now been put forward from five delegations, I am glad to say on the initiative of the British delegation, that European Governments should prohibit the export from their territories of this black market supply? Will the Government give an assurance that they will support such a resolution?

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, as my noble friend is well aware, both sides in Nigeria have been purchasing arms from many countries in Europe, and also from China. We have made our position quite clear. We are prepared to co-operate in any agreement reached by the two sides as part of a cease-fire agreement not to receive arms. But while arms continue to be supplied from various sources to both sides it is important that the position of Her Majesty's Government as a traditional supplier of arms to Nigeria should be maintained.

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

My Lords, can my noble friend tell me what is the moral difference between the "black market" and the "white market" supply of arms?

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, I have stated on many occasions the position of Her Majesty's Government to a Commonwealth country, and I do not believe that any further words of mine are either going to change my noble friend's attitude or give any added information to your Lordships' House. But there is a considerable difference between our position with the Federal Government and those other people who supply arms for financial advantage.

LORD GLADWYN

My Lords, would not the noble Lord think that there is perhaps a case for raising this matter in the Council of Ministers of the Western European Union, a more political body, rather than the Council of Europe? I do not say that it is a bad thing to raise it in the Council of Europe, but it might be preferable to raise it in the Western European Council of Ministers.

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords. I say, and I have said this on a number of occasions to my noble friend Lord Brockway, that while it is a most tragic matter and one which raises strong feelings in this country and in Europe, this is an African problem; a problem of Nigeria. If we were to raise this matter in this type of forum, I fear that many people in Africa would regard this as a form of colonialism. I know that is hard to take, but it is a fact.

LORD BROCKWAY

My Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether he is aware that I saw arms supplied to the Federal side on the black market from eight different European countries? Is lie also aware that the Biafran Administration have said that 40 per cent. of their arms come from black market countries? This is a different question from Government supplies. Surely it should be possible for Governments to refuse the export from their territories to both sides of black market supplies which are made merely for profit and which are not meant for the support of the aims of one side or the other?

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, I sympathise with the approach of my noble friend, but this is a most difficult problem. Black market arms supply has been one of the most difficult problems to control. In the end, if there is to be a control it must be by the co-operation of both sides; and I think that my noble friend will appreciate that such an agreement can only arise when the two sides agree to a cease-fire.