1
CONFIDENTIAL
4
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DSR 11C
Advantages and disadvantages of the Commonwealth to Britain
8. The advantages of the Commonwealth to Britain are easy to
assert, hard to prove. It is also hard to distinguish the
effects of relations with countries with whom we have had
long and close historical ties, of which Commonwealth member-
ship is an expression, from the effects of the Commonwealth
organisation itself.
9.
i)
a)
Nonetheless the advantages include the following:
The Commonwealth has played a useful role in the
following areas where Britain has an interest:
Zimbabwe; a Commonwealth monitoring force and a
Commonwealth observer group played an important role
in the run up to independence;
b) Uganda; a Commonwealth observer group monitored the
elections of December 1980; and the Commonwealth
Secretary-General, with our encouragement, is trying to
put together a Commonwealth military training team to
go to Uganda;
c) Belize; the Commonwealth drummed up support for Belize
in the UN, and the Commonwealth Declaration on Belize
(though nearly undermined at the last moment by Canada)
gave some reassurance to the people of Belize in their
dispute with Guatemala.
ii)
There may be occasions in the future when the Common-
wealth will have a similar role, for example if problems
were to occur in the Caribbean or the Pacific, or with
some of the remaining Dependencies.
Membership of the Commonwealth, as an organisation in
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