§ 3.44 p.m.
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat a Statement being made in another place by my right honourable friend the Prime Minister. The Statement is as follows:
"Since the Anglo/American proposals for Rhodesia were made public in September last year we and the United States Government have been working to bring all the parties together in round table talks for direct negotiations. In April of this year the Patriotic Front agreed to attend such talks but the Salisbury parties, who had just signed their own agreement, were not then prepared to take part. Recently the Salisbury parties have said that they are willing to attend an All Parties meeting without pre-conditions but now the leaders of the Patriotic Front appear unconvinced that the basis for a successful All Party conference exists.
"As I told the House on 7th November, if the conditions seemed right I would be ready to make a personal effort to bring to an end the present violence and bloodshed by means of All Party discussions with all those involved. At such a conference Britain and the United States would put forward the Anglo-American proposals. A restatement of these has recently been put to all the parties. We do not set conditions for the attendance of the other participants, but a conference will in our opinion be most likely to succeed if we begin with the basic framework which we and the United States have identified following our earlier intensive discussions with all the parties. There would need to be a willingness to compromise by all those attending if an acceptable settlement is to be reached. The questions is: Is there a prospect for success?
"I have had consultations with President Carter and with his agreement I have concluded, together with my right honourable friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, that we 1097 should endeavour to find out whether such a basis exists for calling an All Party Conference to be held in the United Kingdom in the New Year at which I would then be willing to take the chair. With the President's support I propose to send a personal representative to Africa to talk privately with all concerned and to advise me when he returns. I am glad to say that my right honourable friend the Member for Anglesey has agreed to undertake this difficult task. President Carter has agreed that Mr. Stephen Low, the United States Ambassador to Zambia, should accompany my right honourable friend in his consultations so that he could similarly advise the President and the United States Secretary of State.
"My right honourable friend will leave for Africa early next week and all the parties will, I trust, agree to meet and talk with him both inside and outside Rhodesia. I also hope he may be able to visit the front-line Presidents as well as Nigeria and South Africa. My right honourable friend will wish to conduct his conversations with as much privacy as possible. He will assess and report to me whether or not the conditions exist for a Conference leading to a negotiated settlement to which all parties would adhere and which would then be supported by the International Community.
"I do not underestimate the difficulties that my right honourable friend will encounter and the Government are grateful to him for undertaking this task. I will of course keep the House informed of developments".
>My Lords, that concludes the Statement.
§ 3.48 p.m.
§ Lord CARRINGTONMy Lords, I very much welcome the Statement which the noble Lord the Leader of the House has made, for it very largely and closely follows the suggestions that on a number of occasions we have put to the Government from this side of the House. Indeed, I am particularly glad that the Prime Minister envisages taking the chair at such a conference; I think that that is the right and sensible way to proceed. I am quite sure that the Government are right in taking the view that this mission should be undertaken with the minimum 1098 of publicity and I have absolutely no wish to make the very difficult task for Mr. Cledwyn Hughes more difficult. Therefore, I confine myself to asking the Leader of the House one question and I am pretty sure that the answer to it will be, Yes. In the Statement the Government say that the United States and Britain would put forward the Anglo-American proposals at such a conference. I ask the noble Lord the Leader of the House to tell the House and to assure the House that, if he expects the internal Government and the Patriotic Front to compromise, the Government are equally prepared to compromise on the Anglo-American proposals, since at this stage they are obviously acceptable to neither party.
§ Lord GLADWYNMy Lords, we, on these Benches, should also like to offer all our good wishes to Mr. Cledwyn Hughes in his appallingly difficult task of trying to reach a basis for negotiation between the two parties. However, as I said in my recent speech on this subject, I believe that there will be little hope of getting the two parties together unless Mr. Smith and his colleagues announce in a general way, or at any rate tell Mr. Hughes in a general way, that it is now possible for them to abandon their present insistence on a very special and privileged position for the white settlers for many years to come. Unless Mr. Hughes can obtain some such assurance from Salisbury, I believe that he will have no hope whatever of making any progress when he goes on—as he probably will go on—to see leaders of the Patriotic Front. In other words, we on these Benches believe that any initiative must still come from Salisbury.
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, I am very grateful for what the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, has said. He, quite rightly, stated that point of view, which we have accepted was put forward in another place by Mr. Pym, the spokesman for the Opposition. I hope that we shall succeed. I have noted carefully what the noble Lord, Lord Gladwyn, has said, but I do not want us to be too pessimistic at this stage. After all, this is an attempt to take the initiative, and I am sure that it will be welcome by all. I hope that this can lead to a movement.
§ Lord DAVIES of LEEKMy Lords, as one who once attempted an international effort like this from this side of the House, may I say that we wish well to the right honourable Member for Anglesey. May I also add that this is a demonstration to the world that, whichever the Government in power—including the Governments of the noble Lord, Lord Home of the Hirsel, and the right honourable gentleman, Mr. Heath—real efforts have been made by the British public to solve this problem, which is of world importance to both black and white man.
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, I am grateful for the remarks of my noble friend.
§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, without prejudicing a settlement, the only thing to do is to wish Mr. Cledwyn Hughes the best results from his visit and to say how much his own personality and experience are likely to make him the best choice for this object.
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, I think that I probably missed a point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, about the Anglo-American proposals. They have been updated and I think will help the negotiations.
§ Lord CARRINGTONMy Lords, what about compromise?
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, I shall not be present at any of the negotiations, but I should have thought we would have to bear compromise in mind if we are to reach a settlement.
§ Lord GARNERMy Lords, will the noble Lord accept that, when he handled the Rhodesian issue, Mr. Cledwyn Hughes, as Minister of State in the early days of this tragic crisis, won the confidence of all concerned, and that by his own integrity and experience he is highly qualified to carry out this delicate task, and I am sure carries the good wishes of us all?
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, I am most grateful for the remarks of the noble Lord.
§ Lord WALSTONMy Lords, may I add my support to that of everyone who 1100 has spoken so far and express my own feelings about my right honourable friend Mr. Cledwyn Hughes. May I also emphasise the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, that it is important for these talks to be carried out with the minimum of publicity—in fact, I would hope, with no publicity at all. I suggest—because I do not think that my right honourable friend included it in his Statement—that, in addition to seeing all the African leaders and the front-line Presidents, a visit might also be paid to Pretoria, which is not without significance in this area.
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, that is perfectly possible. I am grateful.