§ Mr. Maddenasked the Prime Minister when she intends to reply to the representations made by Church leaders for the Hercules aircraft food mission to be extended into 1986; whether she intends to accede to this request: and if she will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterI replied to the Archbishop of Canterbury and his colleagues on 19 July, that a decision on the future of the airlift must await a report by the Minister for Overseas Development on his return from Ethiopia. As my right hon. Friend the Minister for Overseas Development told the House on 22 July, at columns 722–23, we have concluded that the Hercules detachment will be needed beyond the end of September. We have therefore offered the Ethiopian Government an extension of the airlift until the latter part of December.