British P.M. in row on S.A.

Press, 24 October 1989, Page 1

British P.M. in row on S.A.

By

BRENDON BURNS

in Kuala Lumpur

The British Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, angered many Commonwealth leaders by issuing a statement said to repudiate the Commonwealth position on South Africa sanctions.

Mrs Thatcher was accused by Canada of disloyalty to the Commonwealth in a row over her issuing the separate statement on South Africa to that agreed by Commonwealth leaders. The Thatcher statement was described by the Prime Minister, Mr Palmer, as unfortunate and unprecedented. Mr Palmer did not join the criticism offered by Canada’s Prime Minister, Mr Mulroney, and Mr Hawke of Australia, in a closed session of the Commonwealth leaders’ meeting in Malaysia. But he had earlier said the British statement, describing sanctions against South Africa as “largely fruitless,” had weakened the Commonwealth’s stand.

Caution was urged by Mr Palmer against over-reaction. “I do not think it’s very good for the Commonwealth to turn into an organisation that orchestrates hymns of hate against the United Kingdom.” His pre-session call for restraint was not met by Mr Mulroney, according to Australian officials attending yesterday’s discussions.

“The price of membership of an organisation is loyalty and fairness to each other,” Mr Mulroney is said to have told Mrs Thatcher.

“When you sign a document at 5 o’clock you do not repudiate it at 6 o’clock.”

Mr Hawke, who proposed the new measure of restricting trade credit with South Africa, was reported to have said Mrs Thatcher’s actions could not be let pass. “This is not the way I think business should be done,” he said of her statement. Mrs Thatcher, a spokesman said later, told Commonwealth leaders she was astonished that she had been asked to explain her actions.

She was appalled that Britain was being told it should not reply when there were parts of the Commonwealth statement on South Africa that her Govern-

ment did not support. The Commonwealth was supposed to be an organisation marked by free speech, she had said. Mrs Thatcher had Britain excluded from several key points in the Commonwealth statement on South Africa.

She refused to accept the squeeze imposed on trade credit and an attempt to tighten the arms embargo.

A passage accepting that sanctions had influenced South African policies was rejected.

But such reservations aside, Mrs Thatcher joined the 48 other Commonwealth representatives in stating that now was not the time to consider any relaxation of existing sanctions and pressures.

This clashes with her long-held opposition to sanctions. Britain retains 40 per cent of foreign investment in South Africa.

Australian officials suggested Mrs Thatcher felt it necessary to issue her own statement because she had failed to spot the contradiction. Her spokesman later denied this, saying that while Britain did not believe in sanctions it was not attempting to end those already imposed by the Commonwealth. The Thatcher statement was issued only an hour after the agreed document had been released. She said in her statement that sanctions contributed to poverty and misery and increased resistance to political change. “The aim should be to secure positive influence with the South African Government rather than add to the sanctions which have been largely fruitless,” she said., Mr Raimer said he knew of no precedent for a country to issue its own statement on a matter after a Commonwealth position had been made public. “Certainly it is not calculated to make other Heads of Government happy,” he said. Further report, page 6