Government

In 1976 the AAM publicised Barclays Bank’s purchase of South African defence bonds, issued to help the apartheid government fight SWAPO guerrillas in Namibia. This letter from Prime Minister James Callaghan to AAM Chair Bob Hughes MP acknowledged that public opinion in Britain was opposed to the purchase and promised to raise the matter with Barclays.

Letter following up a meeting between an AAM delegation and Foreign Office Minister Ted Rowlands to discuss the AAM’s memorandum of 19 April 1976 on Britain’s arms embargo. The letter detailed loopholes in the arms embargo and exposed the fact that South Africa had access to the NATO Codification System.

In 1977 the British government set up the Bingham Inquiry into allegations that Shell and BP had supplied oil to Rhodesia in contravention of UN sanctions. This submission exposed Shell and BP’s sanctions busting operations. It asked the British government to press South Africa to allow international scrutiny of British-owned oil companies in South Africa. 

After the killing of Steve Biko and banning of anti-apartheid organisations in South Africa in 1977, the British government voted for a UN mandatory arms embargo against South Africa. At the same time it announced it would veto a draft UN Security Council resolution imposing economic sanctions. This letter from the AAM’s President Bishop Ambrose Reeves expressed dismay at the decision to veto and asked for a meeting with the Prime Minister. 

The Bingham Inquiry found that British oil companies Shell and BP had supplied oil to Rhodesia in contravention of UN sanctions. This memorandum asked the British government to ensure that the companies restricted oil supplies to South Africa to pre-UDI levels to prevent the re-export of oil to the illegal Smith regime. It called for the extension of sanctions to South Africa unless it gave assurances that it would implement UN sanctions against Rhodesia.

Letter to Foreign Secretary David Owen from the AAM’s Hon. Secretary Abdul Minty in November 1978 enclosing evidence of breaches of the British arms embargo against South Africa and calling for a parliamentary inquiry. 

Memorandum presented by the AAM at a meeting with Richard Luce, Under Secretary at the Foreign Office, in June 1980. The AAM protested at Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s statement welcoming changes in South Africa’s domestic policies, after police had opened fire on students in Cape Town. It questioned the British government’s claim that it had no standing on the issue of the release of Nelson Mandela.

Letter from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher commenting on the AAM’s memorandum of June 1980. She reiterated that the government had no standing in the case of Nelson Mandela, although she said his release would be ‘widely welcomed’.