§ 3.31 p.m.
§ Lord ALPORTMy Lords, in accordance with Standing Orders, I gave Private Notice to Her Majesty's Government through the Leader of the House of my intention to ask a Question in the following terms:
Whether any report has been received from the British High Commission in Gaborone regarding the incident on 27th February in which 15 members of the Botswana Defence Force were killed in Botswana by the Rhodesian Security Forces?My Lords, it is my duty on this occasion to make it clear that I am appealing for a reconsideration of the decision of the Leader of the House, and I must now leave it at that.
§ The LORD PRIVY SEAL (Lord Peart)My Lords, I have considered the noble Lord's request to put a Private Notice Question. A Private Notice Question may be asked on a matter of urgency, and it is for the Leader of the House in the first instance to decide whether the Question is of sufficient urgency to justify an immediate reply. As Leader of the House, I decided that this Question, about an incident which occurred on Monday and was reported in the Press on Wednesday, cannot be regarded as of sufficient urgency on Thursday. If it had been a question of great urgency it would have been more appropriate to raise it yesterday. I hope the House will not press the matter.
§ Lord ALPORTMy Lords, if I may reply to that, as I understand I am entitled to do, the report only appeared on the 615 tapes, as far as I know, yesterday afternoon. I was certainly not aware of it before yesterday afternoon. The urgency involved in this is as follows. This is an incident the seriousness of which is perhaps not generally realised, where a small country of this sort loses a high proportion of its existing defence force, consisting at the most of a few hundred men, in an incident which took place on its own territory in violation of the territorial integrity of that territory. It is of the greatest importance that we in this House should show our concern and sympathy for Botswana at this time, because the consequences of this sort of incident, if this continues, is likely to affect the stability of the régime and the country, and have very far-reaching effects. That was the reason why I sought at the earliest possible moment open to me to ask this Private Notice Question.
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, may I say that I am standing by the tradition and Rules of the House on this matter. I am sorry if the noble Lord did not read the Guardian that morning; it was in the Guardian. In any case, there is another important point. I would add that, as a member of the Government, I am aware that the incident is not a matter for which the Government have responsibility, although it is one which is, of course, a cause for regret. I hope we can pass on to the next business.