This memorandum of 6th December 1972 outlines the issues and steps being taken by the Government following General Amin’s decision to expel the Ugandan Asians. (CAB 129/164 f.1-2)
Transcript
The decisions required under each of these heads are indicated at the appropriate points. I would ask my colleagues, in considering them, to bear in mind that we are dealing with a man, in the person of President Amin, who is fundamentally irrational and unreliable. We cannot tell how he will react if he thinks that we are provoking him too far; and here it is relevant to remember that we have substantial interests in Uganda and that some 7,000 British subjects (“Belongers”) are at present in that country. But considerations of this kind, which might suggest that we should do all that reasonably can to help President Amin to extricate himself without too much loss of face from the position which he has created, have to be weighed not only against the criticism which we are already attracting from our own supporters for what they regard as our ‘softness’ in dealing with the Ugandan Government but also against the risk that, if we are in fact too ‘soft’ and encourage other countries to suppose that they can deal with a similar problem in the same way, we may create a situation in this country which, in both political and social terms, we simply could not control.
R C
Home Office
6th December 1972.