Nigerian grab of BP holdings widens U.K., Africa rift at summit

Press, 2 August 1979, Page 6

Nigerian grab of BP holdings widens U.K., Africa rift at summit

NZPA Lusaka .Nigeria’s surprise take-over of British oil interests widened rifts at the Commonwealth conference in Lusaka, the Zambian capital.

The issue of Zimbabwe Rhodesia has already split Britain and black Africa.

Nigeria on Tuesday an-1 nounced a take-over of the British Petroleum Company’s i 20 per cent share in the Shell-BP Nigerian company and the expulsion of its staff. It said this was in response to the British Government’s decision to allow BP to export North Sea and non-embargoed oil to South' Africa. A British statement issued in Lusaka bluntly rejected the reasons given by Nigeria, and linked the takeover to the start of the week-long Commonwealth | conference. A statement issued by the! Foreign Office in London; said: The British Government rejects as totally con-; trary to the facts the reasons advanced by the Federal military Government of 1 Nigeria for taking over the equity shares of the BP; company in Shell-BP and ini the BP Marketing Company. The true position has already been made known to the Government of Nigeria ■nd has been stated publicly. Taking into account the timing of this extraordinary ; move on the eve of the • Commonwealth meeting, the British Government can only suppose that the real reason for the Nigerian action is something entirely different.”

Nigeria, the richest nation 1 in black Africa, has threat-1 ened economic retaliation ; against Britain and the: United States if they lift; economic sanctions against Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The take-over was an’ apparent show of strength.

iby Nigeria on the eve of the ] i Zimbabwe Rhodesia debate. Like the rest ot black ' Africa. Nigeria supports Pa-> triotic Front guerrillas fight-; iing the Salisbury Government of Bishop Abel Muzo-1 rewa. i The British Prime Minister; I (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) has' : shown sympathy for the i i Muzorewa Administration, I but British officials empha-| sised that their Government! had not yet made up its mind on Zimbabwe Rhodesia ; 'and that there was room for; compromise. The Commonwealth Secre-j tary-Gtneral (Sir Shridath Ramphal) said it would be lan achievement if the 41member Commonwealth] meeting ended without' splits. There are signs that black] African leaders may be will-] ling to agree to a com-; promise on the Zimbabwe, Rhodesia issue. ! The first indications have] [come from the Australian I Foreign Minister (Mr An-1 ■drew Peacock) who has] ] spent the last two weeks ‘talking with African leaders land the British Foreign Secretary (Lord Carrington) in London.

I “There is a considerable i amount of common ground,” ] |Mr Peacock said. ] African delegates are i looking to the Australian i I Prime Minister (Mr Malcolm. Fraser) to play an important role in attempting to reach! 'some compromise over the] prickly Zimbabwe Rhodesia 1 . issue. In a keynote speech opening the conference Mr Fraser] declared: “We are all in , favour of majority rule—L 'true majority rule which] takes account of all the par-: II ties concerned and which is*

ireflected not only in elec-] tions, but in the underlying] structure of power and! I authority.” i • As he was speaking, the] British Prime Minister sat] i stony-faced. The New Zealand Prime; (Minister (Mr • Muldoon) has: 'said he will be meeting the; (British leader after the first formal session and before the I debate on Zimbabwe Rhode-i ; sia. i Sir Shridath said 271 (nations would be repre-] (sented in Lusaka by Presi-| dents or Prime Ministers,! and most of the others by] Foreign Ministers.' Though Zimbabwe Rho-I idesia—whose nearest border «s only 100 km from the; Zambian capital — will] [clearly dominate the talks,! (the agenda also includes! I economic co-operation be-| itween rich and poor nations,! the plight of Vietnamese refugees, and China’s role in the Pacific region. ; The 41 nations and 1000 M [people represented m Lusaka range from India, the Commonwealth’s most populous State, to Kiribati, a group of sparsely-populated Pacific islands that became independent from Britain only two weeks ago. Uganda, whose problems ■ ( under the dictator, Idi Amin, were debated at the last Com- | mon wealth summit meeting in London, will resume its; t seat at the conference table,] (President Godfrey Binaisa! leading the delegation. I There has been speculation' [that Uganda may again be ;discussed in Lusaka because! lof the involvemenjt of the] (Tanzanian President (Dr ; Julius Nyerere) in Idi Amin’s I. •overthrow.