RECE
HUB 026/12
19 FEB 1990
CONFIDENTIAL
P17. & Miss Magosemon
Mr Strae
- pl ensure that
RECORD OF A MEETING BETWEEN THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND THE utauts J
RT HON DR DAVID OWEN MP, 17 JANUARY 1990
1. South Africa
Dr Owens programme
are
e passed
to hiin sor
Wil
Dr Owen reported on his recent visit to South Africa. He said that the key thing was to persuade the South African Government to accept the principle of a common electoral roll because until they crossed that rubicon the Black African leaders would not discuss the idea of entrenched group rights. He thought that the Prime Minister could play a part in helping to persuade the South African Government.
2. Dr Owen had been very impressed by Mr Sisulu whom he regarded as very astute. Sisulu was carrying young, more radical black leaders with him. He was no intellectual but was "remarkably quick".
3. Dr Owen speculated that there might be a case for Mr Mandela, after his release, not leading the ANC into talks with the South African Government but staying slightly aloof in the role of a "father of the nation".
4.
President de Klerk was amazingly different from his two predecessors. In their conversations the President had never once mentioned his difficulties with the National Party. He expected a completely open agenda for the future of his country. The temptation for him and his party though would be to fudge the issue of a common roll.
5.
Dr Owen was full of praise for the British mission in Windhoek. He said that Sam Nujomo was not a stupid man but that he had kept bad company for a long time. Dr Owen had visited Rossing and felt that the Secretary of State need have no worries about RTZ's continued successful enterprise there.
China and Hong Kong
6. Dr Owen was supportive of the Government's nationality package. He believed that the Labour Party would probably aim to put down a reasoned amendment which would rally their own supporters and allow Labour to vote together without entering into the same lobby as Mr Tebbit and his allies.
His detailed
7. Dr Owen was going to China on 2 February. programme was not yet fixed. He said that he favoured continued British contacts with the Peking Government. The Secretary of State promised to telephone Dr Owen before he left for Peking. [Please could Private Office make a note of this]
CONFIDENTIAL
/Vietnamese