CONFIDENTIAL
HKK. 184/1
LIVEO IN REGISTRY NO. 51. FAUG1979
LA
Air fericis
NK
3/8 Мукий
357
Ru 13/vin
CORD OF CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH SECRETARY AND THE AUSTRALIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS HELD AT THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE AT 4:156. ON STULY 1979
NASTULY
IN
PA
Action Taken
Present
The Rt Hon The Lord Carrington KCMG MC
Mr Peter Blaker MP
Mr HAH Cortazzi
The Hon. Andrew Peacock MP
The Hon. Sir Gordon Freeth
Mr A Griffiths
Mr D Evans
1.
Mr R J Alston
Mr JMO Snodgrass
Mr R W Renwick (first item)
Mr JS Wall
Mr M Cook
Mr C Mott
After the Secretary of State had had a private discussion with Mr Peacock, without any officials present, for about 10 minutes, the remaining participants were invited to join them.
COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT MEETING
2.
also
Mr Peacock thanked Lord Carrington and British officials for consistently keeping Australia informed about British thinking on Rhodesia. The Australians were in contact with many other Commonwealth Governments. They accepted that Rhodesia and the handling of the issue at Lusaka was primarily a United Kingdom responsibility, and wished to be reasonably forthcoming and helpful in a Commonwealth context, but not at the expense of the United Kingdom plans; although Mr Fraser might wish to refer, for example, to the inadequacies of the constitution. But Australia did not want to see the Lusaka Conference as a forum where Heads of Government would have to negotiate on a precise plan.
3. Lord Carrington expressed relief. He had earlier had the impression that Mr Fraser envisaged that we might agree to put precise proposals to the Conference. This would have put the United Kingdom into a corner, and would have been a recipe for disaster. He envisaged that Mrs Thatcher would open the debate on Rhodesia on the Friday, explaining the policy in general terms, and that she would then hope to make a forthcoming response, perhaps on the Monday, in the light of views expressed by other participants. He wanted to end up in Rhodesia with a constitution which would be on all fours with those given by Britain to other colonial territories. The difficulty was not what we wanted but how to get there.
4. Mr Peacock asked what Lord Carrington saw as the main dangers in the Conference. Did the consultations Britain had carried out so far indicate that African acceptance of our viewpoint was possible?
1.