War probe likely to fuel row

Press, 29 June 1982, Page 8

War probe likely to fuel row

NZPA London Political fireworks are expected in Britain this week when the -Prime Minister (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) announces her plans for an official inquest into the cause of the. Falklands conflict. The battle lines are clear, and political -sources said yesterday that a serious Parliamentary row is certain.

Michael Foot and his opposition Labour Party want a quick probe into what they call the blunders that left Britain unprepared for Argentina’s seizure of the islands on April 2. But Mrs Thatcher wants the investigation to trace Britain’s Falklands policies through the administrations of half a dozen former Prime Ministers.

Political sotfrces say that the quick inquiry demanded by the Opposition 'voniq he

bound to embarrass Mrs Thatcher and her Cabinet colleagues. A long, historical study, on the other hand, could spread the blame over many heads, including previous 'Labour Party governments and rival factions within Mrs Thatcher's Conservative Party, the sources said.. Opposition attacks on Mrs Thatcher were redoubled last week when a letter which she wrote shortly before the Argentine attack was made public.

In it, Mrs Thatcher assured a political supporter that a token force of Royal Marines would be sufficient to deter Argentina.

Political sources said that the official inquest would be made by a panel of two senior politicians — one Labour and one Conservative — with an outsider, probably a prominent academic figure, as chairman.

In Buenos Aires, Argentina's President-designate, Major-General Reynaldo Bignone. worked yesterday on selecting a Cabinet to help him lead the country to civilian rule, amid reports that more top military leaders would be replaced after an investigation into the- failed bid to recover the Falklands. The Ambassador to Venezuela (Dr Juan Ramon Aguirre Lanari) had accepted General Bignone’s offer to become Foreign Minister, the official news agency, Telam. said:

Dr Nicanor Costa Mendez, who conducted Argentina's foreign policy during the Falklands conflict, has repeatedly told journalists that the has resigned as Foreign Minister. But a spokesman for Major-General Alfredo Saint Jean, the interim President, said that all former Minis-

ters had been asked to remain until the new administration took over on July 1.

The privately-owned ■ Argentine news agency, Dyn. said that a former Economy Minister, Jose Dagnino Pastore, would be offered the same posts by General Bignone, who is expected to change significantly, the economic policy followed by the military since a coup in 1976. Dyn said that Mr Pastore was'not the politicians' favourite for the economy job. The agency said that he had proposed renegotiating Argentina’s SUS 36 billion foreign debt through an International Monetary Fund loan. The politicians reportedly feared that the I.M.F. would insist on continuation of the harsh anti-inflationary, measures civilian sectors blame in part for the current deep recessT".