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(b) A naval patrol to cover Lourenco Harques as well as Boira would be
an additional commitment for which we have not made planned provision
and would seriously stretch the Royal Navy. It should not, however, be
assumed that if a UN resolution called for a naval patrol of Lourenco
Marques, this country should provide it. Countries such as Canada and
the Scandanavian countries were to the fore in calling for action against
Rhodesia, and had the means to contribute to a naval patrol; we already
manned alone the Beira patrol and we should take the line that this was
our contribution to naval operations to deny oil to Rhodesia.
Summing up, THE PRIME MINISTER said that it had throughout been
the view of the Cabinet that we must avoid at all costs an economic
confrontation with South Africa. At the present time it appeared that
only by effective action to stop the supply of oil on the present scale
to Rhodesia through Mozambique could we hope to resist strong UN
pressure for action which would inevitably lead to such confrontation.
The Committee
Approved the proposals in OPD(67) 63 for further action
to limit the supply of oil to Rhodesia through Mozambique.
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