§ 3.8 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 when the report of the Bingham Inquiry 1164 into oil supplies to Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) will be published.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I would refer my noble friend to the Answer given by my right honourable friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary in another place on 28th June, in the course of which he said that he would make a statement on all aspects of the inquiry when he had received and studied Mr. Bingham's report.
§ Lord BROCKWAYYes, my Lords, but I was asking when the report is likely to be available. In view of the fact that it is recognised that oil supplies to Rhodesia kept the illegal Government alive, is it not urgent that charges against British companies, that they knowingly organised oil supplies through their subsidiaries in South Africa and withheld information from the British Commonwealth Minister, should be adjudicated upon without delay? Is it fair to Shell and BP that these widely published charges should hang over their heads without a decision?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, as to the date of the publication of the report, that is not a matter on which I—or, indeed, Her Majesty's Government—can decide. Mr. Bingham has been asked to undertake a far-ranging and complex inquiry and to decide the date of report as he sees fit. But I can anticipate with noble Lords that the report may well be presented to Ministers soon. Secondly, it would be wrong for me to anticipate the contents of the report (which obviously must be recommendatory in many respects) by commenting on the part of my noble friend's remarks about sanctions busting. Thirdly, as to some recent statements and allegations in the public Press, I can only say that all the relevant material, including that to which he referred, has been made available to Mr. Bingham.
§ Baroness ELLESMy Lords, would the Minister not agree that several countries, particularly African countries, have broken sanctions for their own economic and social survival? Is this not also to be considered? Secondly, would the Minister not agree that the black Africans of Rhodesia, 6 million of them, should not be deprived of their 1165 own economic and social development because of sanctions which have been imposed arbitrarily by a body which obviously has had no concern for these particular individuals? Is the Minister further aware that we are being repeatedly told by black Africans—and, I repeat, black Africans—from Rhodesia, that the most beneficial thing that the United Kingdom could do would be to ask for the raising of sanctions, in order that we can hand over a country to the black Africans in an economic and viable condition?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I rather thought that the third part of the noble Baroness's supplementary questions contradicted the first. She seemed to me, in her first point, to be criticising some black African States for as she suggested, breaking sanctions; and, in her third point, to be urging the immediate raising of sanctions. As to the second part, I agree that black Africans, and indeed all Rhodesians, have suffered through sanctions and have been deprived of certain standards, and perhaps necessities, but none more by sanctions than by the continued repressive social policy of the internal régime.
§ Lord HALEMy Lords, does my noble friend realise that the two detailed articles in the Observer which appeared recently and which contained very specific, grave and disturbing allegations (including the very honoured names) should have at least some repudiation or some answer at the earliest possible moment?—because the effect of those articles, if unrepudiated, is to some extent to undermine the sincerity of Her Majesty's Government.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, with all respect, I do not think it affects the sincerity of Her Majesty's Government. We are very sensitive to unfairness in comment on officials and Ministers who have, in everybody's experience, discharged their duties with integrity and intelligence, as has been the case. However, it would be wrong of me to go into this point much further than that in view of the fact that all this material has itself been made available to Mr. Bingham. As we are shortly to be given the report on the inquiry, it is then, I think, that 1166 any final repudiation or explanation can most effectively be given.
§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, while appreciating his reply to my supplementary question, may I ask the Minister whether he can confirm that the evidence of Mr. George Jardim, who was the Portugese Minister for Industries under Salazar and who was instructed to maintain this trade with Rhodesia, has been given to the inquiry?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, that is what I hope I was conveying to the House: that the material which forms the basis of these articles—that is, of the book in question—has been made available to Mr. Bingham.