Commonwealth documents from 1969 released to public
1 February 2000
The Commonwealth Secretariat today placed in the public domain formerly classified files for the year 1969. It is the fourth consecutive year that the files have been made public since the organisation adopted the practice for all confidential Commonwealth shared records to be released after 30 years.
A total of 132 files from January to December 1969 will now be added to those already available to scholars and students of Commonwealth affairs. This time the documents include the Minutes and Memoranda from the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Meeting (CPMM) held in London January 1969, the third chaired by the then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
The records deal notably with the issue of Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence, then already over three years old. They record the preoccupation of many Commonwealth leaders with the much criticised settlement proposals (eventually abortive) that Harold Wilson had negotiated with rebel leader Ian Smith on the warship Fearless .in October 1968. The papers also confirm the strong criticisms of the British position made by many leaders such as President Nyerere of Tanzania during the January meeting, and the reaffirmation of the position of NIBMAR (No Independence Before Majority Rule) which had become a Commonwealth article of faith.
Another issue at the CPMM which the records amplify was that of immigration from the Commonwealth to the UK. This followed the passing of the 1968 Commonwealth Immigration Act by the Labour Government. The British Home Secretary of the day, James Callaghan, crossed swords with Kenya's then Minister of Economic Development, Tom Mboya, in a series of clashes recorded in the CPMM Minutes of an informal session on 'citizenship and migration' agreed on after an unsuccessful attempt to inscribe the issue of the meeting's agenda.
The papers also bear witness to another matter which became a Commonwealth issue during the year - that of the March referendum which confirmed the secession of Anguilla from St Kitts and Nevis, and the subsequent British police action to end the secession. The papers include a revealing account of a meeting between the then Secretary-General Arnold Smith with St Kitts Premier Robert Bradshaw, as well as of Mr Smith's meetings with a series of Caribbean leaders at which the issue was discussed, often in the context of regional association in the Caribbean.
In summary the files released this year are:
1. Shared Commonwealth records 1969
Meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers, January 1969
Files relating to the Rhodesia Sanctions Committee and other aspects of the Rhodesia crisis
Meeting of Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Meeting (FMM), Barbados
File on Guyana's application for Commonwealth membership
Files relating to the preparation of a study on issues of citizenship and immigration
2. Papers of Arnold Smith (first Commonwealth Secretary-General)
Files relating to CPMM and FMM, and files relating to Anguilla's dispute with St. Kitts, and on the Secretary-General's visit to the Caribbean and the USA/Canada
The files are available for viewing in the Secretariat's library at Marlborough House. Appointments may be made with Mr David Blake, the Librarian, who may be reached at the following numbers: +44 20 7747 6164 (telephone); +44 20 7747 6168 (fax) or by e-mail; d.blake@commonwealth.int
00/05 1 February, 2000
delicious
digg
reddit
facebook
stumbleupon
News feedsLatest Speech
- Commonwealth Tourism Ministers MeetingCommonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma
Useful Resources
Subscribe to our weekly email news bulletin and quarterly ezine - click here