SECRET
Page 144
In discussion there was full agreement that British service personnel
on loan to the Zambian forces could not be left there without the protection
of a loan agreement or of an understanding giving equivalent protection valid in law. In view, however, of President Kaunda's position there would be advantage in naking a further attempt to reach a satisfactory settlement of the problem with him through a personal approach on the part of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence for the Royal Navy, not preceded by a message stating our conditions for the retention of our loan
personnel in Zambia.
THE PRIME MINISTER, summing up the discussion, said that the Committee were agreed that if loan personnel from the army and RAF were to continue to serve with Zambian forces, they and their dependants must be given the legal
protection of a loan agreement of the kind normally negotiated for such
personnel serving with Commonwealth or foreign forces or the effective
equivalent of such protection in the form of an understanding valid in
Zambian military and civil courts. The arrangements made must not be such that their effect would discriminate between army and RAF personnel.
matter of tactics, however, it would be preferable to seek a settlement on
these lines through personal contacts with President Kaunda rather than by
sending a message to him, and in view of the urgency of the problem the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence for the Royal Navy should
arrange to visit Zanbia as early as possible in May for this purpose.
As a
Page 144
The Committee
Invited the Minister of Defence for Administration to be guided
by the Prime Minister's summing up of their discussion.
Cabinet Office, S.W.1.
28th April 1967
-2- SECRET
Page 144
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.