Special meeting for Cabinet

Press, 19 April 1982, Page 1

Special meeting for Cabinet

NZPA-Reuter London The British Prime Minister (Mrs Thatcher) held an unscheduled meeting of her special Falklands crisis Cabinet on Saturday night as the American mediator, the Secretary of State, Mr Alexander Haig, continued to seek a settlement in Buenos Aires.

The- meeting in London

was officially described as a stocktaking session, but British officials said the Government had heard that Mr Haig had decided to fly to Washington when his talks ended in Argentina, and not London as expected. Mrs Thatcher unexpectedly broke off a week-end stay in the country to attend the late-night meeting with the Foreign Secretary. Mr Francis Pym, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr William Whitelaw, and the Defence Secretary. Mr John Nott. A spokeswoman for Mrs Thatcher said the meeting reviewed developments in the crisis sparked by Argentina’s seizing of the Falkland Islands and was not called as a result of any news from Mr Haig. Mr Haig had not been in touch with the Government since he began his long talks with Argentina’s military government on Friday, she said. Both United States and Argentinan officials sidestepped comment on the progress of the talks between Mr Haig and Argentinian officials. “They are searching for common grounds for agreement,” said the Argentinian Press Secretary, Mr Rodolfo Baltierrez. “There are some differences, but they are still working.” A United States Department spokesman, Mr Dean Fischer, said he was “neither optimistic nor pessimistic.” over the results of the talks. The British officials said they did not know the significance of Mr Haig’s decision to fly to Washington when the talks ended. He postponed 'his departure several times and Argentinian Government officials said the negotiations appeared to be heading towards deadlock. A powerful British naval task force is continuing towards the Falklands, where Britain has declared a 200mile blockade zone for Argentinian warships. The fleet was reported to have left Ascension Island in mid-Atlantic on Friday, while the requisitioned cruise liner Canberra, carrying 2000 troops, called at Freetown, Sierra Leone, for supplies on Saturday. In Britian, the Government continued to build up the resources it needs to back up the force, requisitioning a North Sea ferry to bring the total of merchant vessels taken over to 26. Five South American countries have announced that they would step up trade with Argentina to help it overcome sanctions by the European Economic Community. The decision was taken at a meeting in Lima of the Andean . Pact, comprising Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The president of the An-

dean Pact Commission, Mr Orlando Alcivar, told a press conference that the countries condemned the decision by the E.E.C., Australia, and Canada to impose a trade ban on Argentina over the Falklands crisis. The Argentinian President, General Leopoldo Galtieri, has demanded that Britain show increased flexibility in resolving the Falkland Islands crisis, declaring that his country will not be humiliated “by any demand dictated by wounded pride.” Intensive diplomatic efforts are being made to persuade the Argentinian authorities to respect the journalistic status of three Britons they have accused of spying, says the “Sunday Times." The journalists are Simon Winchester, feature writer and foreign correspondent of the “Sunday Times" since 1980; lan Mather, foreign correspondent of the “Observer”; and Anthony Prime, an “Observer” photographer. Three members of a Canadian television team have also been arrested, said a spokesman for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. They were arrested in the port of Comodoro Rivadavia, believed to be a staging area for Argentinian military operations. The C.8.C., Canada’s Stateowned broadcasting network, did not know why the three men were arrested. They had told a C.B.C. reporter in Buenos Aires that they were •being well treated, the spokesman said. All three Britons are believed to have been apprehended near a naval base in Argentina’s southernmost port of Ushuaia. They were held incommunicado and formally charged on Friday morning. The next move by the authorities is expected today. The three journalists have not been in touch with their offices since last weekend. Twenty-nine British Marines and 13 British members of an Antarctic survey team seized by Argentina during its invasion of the Falkland Islands were flown to Uruguay early yesterday, said the British Embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay. The British arrived at Montevideo Airport in two Argentinian Air Force jets at 2 a.m. local time, and were met by the British Consul and military attaches. No immediate explanation was given for the group's release. Twenty-two of the Marines and the civilians were captured by Argentinian troops during .their . invasion of South Georgia, an island dependency of the Falklands, 800 miles east. The seven other Marines had taken refuge in a building on the Falklands during the Argentinian invasion, and later surrendered.