Orders of the Day — Foreign Affairs

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 12 December 1968.

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Earl of Dalkeith:

That is a fair point which I accept and take into consideration. I accept that that is a line which should be tried, but so far it has not produced any results, and I still do not see why the Government have not discussed this matter, as they appear not to have done, with the Commonwealth Prime Ministers.

Have the Government had any such discussions? If they have, what answers have they had from them? If there are some difficulties, may we be told what they are? Have the Government discussed the matter with the leaders of the Federal Government in Nigeria, and, if they have, what was their response? I cannot see how we are going to get anywhere near bringing this dispute to an end, possibly for years to come, unless some sort of assistance is given from outside.

The hon. Lady the Member for Hamilton (Mrs. Ewing) is probably a greater expert on tribal secession than I am. We had the same kind of problems of suspicion and mistrust within various parts of Scotland, and it took generations to solve them. I do not believe that there is any reason to think there is a short-cut to ending this trouble in Nigeria, and I therefore think that the offer of some interventionist force might be accepted by the two sides to the conflict, provided it is offered to them in a way which is seen to be to their advantage.

All I ask the Government to do is to see whether the problem can be tackled rather more seriously than it has been hitherto. I do not try to lay down what sort of forces should be enrolled in the Commonwealth, or even in the African, peace keeping force, but I suggest that the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders might perhaps be a very useful mixture to put into such a force, because they behave with the utmost tact and diplomacy, as well as a certain amount of firmness when it is required.

I ask the Minister to amplify the Government's thinking on this, as the matter was rather skated over this afternoon.