CHOGM Archives - Page 5 of 10 - Commonwealth Oral History Project

Interview with Sir Don McKinnon

by chrismoffat | Jun 9, 2015 | CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Decolonisation, India, Kenya, Maldives, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nuclear, Pakistan, Queen, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (27th February 2013); Part Two (8th April 2014). Biography: McKinnon, Donald Charles. 1939- . Born in London, United Kingdom. Educated at Lincoln Agricultural College, New Zealand. Elected as Member of Parliament for Albany,...

Interview with Vijay Krishnarayan

by chrismoffat | Jun 1, 2015 | CHOGM, Civil Society, Commonwealth Foundation, Commonwealth Secretariat, Development, Fiji, Good Governance, Human Rights, Sri Lanka, Trade and Investment, West Indies/ West Indies Federation, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Krishnarayan, Vijay. Born in Trinidad and Tobago. Educated at Oxford Polytechnic in Town and Country Planning. Volunteer with Voluntary Service Overseas in Belize, with the Belize Enterprise for Sustainable Technology....

Interview with The Most Hon Edward Seaga

by chrismoffat | May 22, 2015 | Apartheid, Canada, CHOGM, Cold War, Democracy, Grenada, Jamaica, Queen, South Africa, Trade and Investment

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Seaga, Edward Philip George. 1930- . Born in Boston, United States. Educated at Harvard University. Nominated to serve in the Legislative Council, Jamaican Parliament, 1959. Elected MP for Western Kingston in 1962, a...

Interview with K Shankar Bajpai

by chrismoffat | May 8, 2015 | CHOGM, Constitutional Change, Decolonisation, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, India, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Bajpai, K Shankar. 1928- . Born in Jaipur, India. Educated at Merton College, Oxford, and Ecole des Hautes Etudes Universitaire, Geneva. Joined Indian Foreign Service in 1952, serving in Germany, Turkey and Pakistan. Consul...

Interview with the Most Hon PJ Patterson

by chrismoffat | Apr 17, 2015 | Canada, CHOGM, Development, Guyana, Jamaica, Mozambique, Nigeria, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Rwanda, South Africa, Sport, Technical Assistance, Trade and Investment, Uganda, United Kingdom, West Indies/ West Indies Federation, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download interview transcript. Biography: Patterson, Percival Noel James ‘PJ’. 1935- . Born in Hanover, Jamaica. Educated at the University of the West Indies, Mona, and the London School of Economics. Elected Vice-President of the People’s National Party (PNP), 1969....

Interview with Sir Shridath Ramphal

by chrismoffat | Apr 17, 2015 | Apartheid, Barbados, Canada, CHOGM, Cold War, Commonwealth Secretariat, Constitutional Change, Development, Diplomacy, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Grenada, Guyana, India, Law, Malaysia, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Singapore, South Africa, Technical Assistance, Trade and Investment, Uganda, United Kingdom, West Indies/ West Indies Federation, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download interview transcripts: Part One (23rd November 2013); Part Two (29th January 2015). Biography: Ramphal, Sir Shridath Surendranath ‘Sonny’. 1928- . Born in New Amsterdam, British Guiana. Educated at King’s College London and Gray’s Inn, London, 1947-51....

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Definitioner

Michael Heseltine

Michael Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (b.1933) is a British political figure and businessman who played a prominent role in the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. Heseltine was Secretary of State for the Environment (1979-83, 1990-92), Secretary of State for Defence (1983-86) and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1995-97).

Christopher Soames

Arthur Christopher Soames, Baron Soames, (1920-1987) was a British Conservative politician who served as the last Governor of Southern Rhodesia (1979-80). He served the Government of Harold Macmillan as Secretary of State for War and as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and also served as British Ambassador to France (1968-72) and European Commissioner for Trade and External Relations (1973-77).

Airey Neave

Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave (1916-1979) was a British political figure and former army officer who served as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1974-79) under Edward Heath and then Margaret Thatcher. Neave was assassinated in 1979 by an Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) car bomb planted at the House of Commons in London.

Julian Amery

Harold Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh, (1919-1996) was a British Conservative politician who served as Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1972-74) in the government of Edward Heath. He had served previously as Minister for Housing and Construction (1970-72) and Minister of Public Buildings and Works (1970).

Operation Urgent Fury

Operation Urgent Fury was the name given to the 1983 US-led invasion of Grenada, prompted by the killing of the revolutionary Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and a split in the ruling New Jewel Movement. The invasion, which saw the swift success of American troops, led to the restoration of the pre-revolutionary regime. The action was criticized by Britain and Canada, as well as by a proposed United Nations Security Council resolution subsequently vetoed by the US.

Robert Allan Gates

Robert Allan Gates is a former Guyanese police constable who, during the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry inaugurated in 2014, was identified as having infiltrated Rodney’s Working People’s Alliance as a spy on behalf of the Joint Intelligence Command. Following Rodney’s assassination in 1980, Gates continued working with the Guyana Police Force until 1996. At the time of his testimony to the Commission, Gates was serving time in Camp Street Prison for alleged embezzlement of funds.

Walter Rodney

Walter Anthony Rodney (1942-1980) was a Guyanese scholar and political activist closely associated with left politics in the Caribbean, Pan-Africanism and the Black Power movement. During the 1960s and 70s he taught history at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, publishing among other works his influential How Europe Underdeveloped Africa in 1972. Rodney founded the Working People’s Alliance in Guyana in 1974, and in 1980 was killed by a bomb placed in his car.

New Jewel Movement

The New Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation, commonly known as the New JEWEL Movement (NJM), was a Grenadian political party led by Maurice Bishop and informed by Marxist-Leninist principles. Established in 1973, the NJM existed as an opposition political party before overthrowing the government of Eric Gairy in a 1979 armed revolution. In 1983, an American-led invasion ('Operation Urgent Fury') saw the end of the New Jewel experiment and the restoration of the pre-revolution Grenadian constitution.

Rashleigh Jackson

Rashleigh Esmond Jackson (b.1929) is an influential Guyanese diplomat who joined the Public Service in 1948. In 1969 he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Minister of External Affairs, and from 1973-8 acted as Permanent Representative of the Republic of Guyana to the United Nations in New York. Jackson then served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1978 to 1990.

Gairy (Eric Gairy)

Sir Eric Matthew Gairy (1922-1997) was a Grenadian politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Grenada (1974-79). Gairy was also head of Government in pre-Independence Grenada, acting as Chief Minister (1961-62) and Premier (1967-74). He was overthrown in a coup led by Maurice Bishop in 1979.

Morarji Desai

Morarji Desai (1896-1995) was an Indian political figure who served as fifth Prime Minister of India (1977-79). His tenure as Prime Minister came at the end of a period of Emergency rule (1975-77) instigated by Indira Gandhi, with Desai winning the election as head of the opposition Janata Party and thus becoming the first non-Congress government leader in India’s post-independence history.

Dorienne Rowan Campbell

Dorienne Rowan Campbell (formerly Doreinne Wilson-Smillie) is a Jamaican-Canadian development consultant who served as the first Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s division of Women’s Issues and Development from its establishment in 1981. She later helped start the Gender and Development Centre of the University of the West Indies.

Peter Williams

Dr Peter Williams joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1984, serving first as Director of Education and then as Director of the Human Resource Development Division. He later served as Joint Deputy Executive Chair of the Council for Education in the Commonwealth and as Secretary of the Commonwealth Consortium for Education.

Berg Report

The Berg Report is the shorthand name for a 1981 document published by the World Bank called ‘Accelerate Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Plan for Action’. Authored by the American economist Elliot Berg, the Report endorsed a move away from state-run economies in favour of free market policies in Africa. Berg was highly critical of African government bureaucracies and levels of corruption in the continent, advocating a smaller role for government in the economy and a greater degree of involvement from private industry. The Report followed the 1980 Lagos Plan of Action.

Mike Faber

Professor Michael Faber (1929-2015) was a British economist and international civil servant who twice served as Director of the Technical Assistance Group of the Commonwealth Secretariat (1972-75 and 1978-82). In the 1960s, Faber worked for the Ministry of Finance in a newly-independent Zambia while advising Kenneth Kaunda’s government on the expansion of education provisions in the country. In 1982, Faber founded the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

Josiah Tongogara

Josiah Magama Tongogara (1938-1979) was a Zimbabwean nationalist leader who commanded the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) guerrilla forces against the Rhodesian regime. Tongogara was a major figure at the 1979 Lancaster House negotiations which led to Zimbabwe’s independence but was killed in a car crash six days after the agreement was signed.

Kingman Brewster

Kingman Brewster, Jr., (1919-1988) was an American diplomat and educator who served as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1977 to 1981. He was previously President of Yale University (1963-77).

Kallicharran

Alvin Isaac Kallicharran (b.1949) is a West Indian cricketer who was active from 1972 to 1981. Kallicharran was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, and in 1977-78 served as Captain of the West Indies cricket team.

SADCC

The South African Development Coordinating Conference (SADCC) was a memorandum of understanding on economic cooperation signed in Lusaka, Zambia, in April 1980 between Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Conference set the foundations for the South African Development Community (SADC), formalised in 1992.

General Garba

Major General Joseph Garba (1943-2002) was a Nigerian military figure, politician and diplomat who participated in the 1975 coup against General Yakubu Gowon and subsequently served as his country’s Foreign Minister (1975-78). In this position he acted as President of the United Nations Security Council in 1978. Garba later served as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1984-89) and, in 1989, was elected President of the UN General Assembly.

David Owen

David Anthony Owen, Lord Owen, (b. 1938) is a British political figure who served as Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979. In 1981, Owen left the Labour Party to found the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which he led from 1983 to 1987.

Anthony Crosland

Charles Anthony Crosland (1918-1977) was a British Labour politician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1976-77) in the government of James Callaghan. Crosland had previously served the government of Harold Wilson as Minister of State for Economic Affairs (1964-65), Secretary of State for Education and Science (1965-67), President of the Board of Trade (1967-69) and Secretary of State for Local Government and Regional Planning (1969-70).

Forbes Burnham

Linden Forbes Burnham (1923-1985) was a Guyanese politician who served as leader of Guyana from 1964 until his death, holding the titles of Premier (1964-66), Prime Minister (1966-80) and President (1980-85) over his long career. Burnham was founder and leader of the People’s National Congress.

John Carter

Sir John Carter (1919-2005) was a Guyanese diplomat and politician who served as Guyana’s Ambassador to the United States, the United Nations and China, as well as High Commissioner to Canada, the United Kingdom and Jamaica. Prior to Guyanese independence he was involved with the London-based League of Coloured Peoples.

Boumediene (Houari Boumediene)

Houari Boumediene (1932-1978) was an Algerian political figure who served as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Algeria from 1965 to 1976, seizing power from President Ahmed Ben Bella in a bloodless coup. Following the adoption of a new constitution, Boumediene was made President of Algeria in 1976 and held this position until his death in 1978. He was fourth Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement (1973-76).

Mrs Bandaranaike (Sirimavo Bandaranaike)

Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (1916-2000) was a Sri Lankan politician who served as Prime Minister of Ceylon and Sri Lanka three times: 1960-65, 1970-77, and 1994-2000. Bandaranaike had been associated with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and was widow of the first national Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike, assassinated in 1959.

Sihanouk (Norodom Sihanouk)

Norodom Sihanouk (1922-2012) was a Cambodian royal and political figure who served as King of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and then again from 1993 to 2004. He was effective ruler of Cambodia from 1953 to 1970, acting variously as Prime Minister or President, and served as a puppet head of state for the Khmer Rouge government, 1975-76.

Mark Chona

Mark Chona is a Zambian political figure who acted as Special Assistant for Political Affairs to President Kenneth Kaunda between 1968 and 1980. He is the brother of Mainza Chona, another prominent Zambian politician who served as Kaunda’s Vice President (1970-73).

Alister McIntyre

Sir Meredith Alister McIntyre (b.1932) is a Grenadian economist and development planner who played a key role in the movement toward Caribbean integration as Secretary General of CARICOM from 1974-77 and Vice Chairman of the West Indian Commission. During his international career, McIntyre also served as Director of the Commodities Division, UNCTAD, Deputy Secretary General of UNCTAD, and Assistant Secretary General at the United Nations in New York. From 1988 to 1998 he was Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, and later acted as Chief Technical Advisor to the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery.

Seretse Khama

Sir Seretse Khama (1921-1980) was the 1^st President of Botswana and leader of the country’s independence movement from Britain. He founded the Botswana Democratic Party in 1962 and became Prime Minister in 1965. In 1966, upon independence, he became President and held this position until his death in 1980.

Billie Miller

Dame Billie Antoinette Miller, b. 1944, is a Barbadian politician and member of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). Beginning her political career in 1976, she served in a variety of cabinet positions before being appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994. In 1999 she headed the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Miller was Chairperson of the Executive of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Vice-Chairperson of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is an international sporting event that takes place every four years and brings together athletes from across the Commonwealth of Nations. It began in 1930 as the British Empire Games, and is overseen today by the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Razali Ismail

Tan Sri Razali Ismail (b.1939) is a Malaysian diplomat who served as his country’s Ambassador to Poland (1978-82) and High Commissioner to India (1982-1985). Ismail has headed Malaysian diplomatic delegations to ASEAN and the Non-Aligned Movement, and from 1996 to 1997 was President of the United Nations General Assembly. As UN Special Envoy to Myanmar, he played a pivotal role in releasing Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in 2002.

Kamil Jaafar

Tan Sri Datuk Kamil Jaafar (b.1937) is a Malaysian diplomat who served as his country’s Ambassador to Thailand (1975), Vietnam (1978), Switzerland (1980), China (1983) and Japan (1986). He was Secretary General of the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1996.

Musa Hitam

Tun Musa bin Hitam (b.1934) was Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 1986, serving under Mahathir bin Mohamad. From 1990-91 he was Malaysia’s Special Envoy to the United Nations and, in 1995, was appointed as Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG).

Marlborough House

Marlborough House is a 17^th century mansion in the City of Westminster, central London, which has served as the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat since 1953.

Brundtland Commission

The Brundtland Commission – officially the World Commission on Environment and Development – was a UN initiative set up in 1983 to address concerns about the deterioration of the human environment and natural resources. It was chaired by the former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and issued an influential report in 1987 entitled ‘Our Common Future’.

Helmut Schmidt

Helmut Schmidt, b.1918, is a German politician who served as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1982.

Vishnu Persaud

Dr Bishnodat ‘Vishnu’ Persaud, b.1933 in Guyana, served the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1974 to 1992, acting as Director and Head of the Economic Division from 1981. He lectured at the University of the West Indies from 1992-1996 and later became a member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Committee on Development Policy and the UN Expert Group on the Vulnerability of Small States.

New International Economic Order

The New International Economic Order (NIEO) was a proposal set forth by a group of developing countries in 1974 to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. It focused on issues of trade, development assistance, tariff reductions in developed countries and was intended to revise the dominant ‘Bretton-Woods’ economic order that was perceived to disproportionately benefit the United States.

NIEO (New International Economic Order)

Langkawi Declaration

The Langkawi Declaration was a declaration issued at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malaysia, 1981, which outlines several commitments to be taken by member countries on issues of environmental sustainability and climate change. Click here to read the Declaration in full.

ISIS (Institute of Strategic and International Studies)

The Institute of Strategic & International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia was established in 1983 as an autonomous, not-for-profit research organisation and has become one of Malaysia’s most influential think tanks, especially respected on issues of diplomacy and foreign affairs.

Ratu Mara

Sir Kamisese Mara (1920-2004). Fijian politician. He was Prime Minister of Fiji, 1970-92. Though defeated in the election of 1987, he headed an interim administration following a military coup, until 1992. He was then President of Fiji, 1993-2000.

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan (b. 1938). Ghanaian diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations 1997-2006.

Bouteflika

Abdelaziz Bouteflika (b. 1937). Algerian politician who acted as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1965 to 1978. He assumed office as President of Algeria in 1999.

Brandt Commission (Brandt Report)

The Brandt Report (1980) was the outcome of an independent commission chaired by the former German Chancellor Willy Brandt. It reported on issues of international development, suggesting that a gulf in living standards existed between a global north and south.

Vince Cable

Vince Cable (b. 1943). British politician and member of the Liberal Democrat party. He was economic advisor to the Commonwealth Secretary-General in the 1970s and 80s.

Jeremy Pope

Jeremy Pope (1938-2012). New Zealand-born activist. In 1980 he was appointed director of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division. In 1993 he co-founded the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International.

Laurens Van der Post

Laurens Van der Post (1906-1996). Afrikaner journalist, author and political advisor to British heads of government, notably Margaret Thatcher. Van der Post was a close friend of Prince Charles and the godfather of Prince William.

Idi Amin

Idi Amin (c. 1925-2003). Became President of Uganda, 1971-79, after seizing power through a military coup.

Bishop Muzorewa

Bishop Muzorewa (1925-2010). Briefly Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from June-December 1979, following the Internal Settlement, an agreement between Muzorewa and then Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Ian Smith. Muzorewa was defeated in elections following the Lancaster House agreement.

ZAPU

Zimbabwe African People’s Union. A militant political organisation founded in 1961 that fought against white minority rule in Rhodesia. Merged with ZANU in 1987 to form ZANU-PF.

ZANU

Zimbabwe African National Union. A militant political organisation founded in 1963 to campaign against white minority rule in Rhodesia. It won power in 1980, and in 1987 merged with ZAPU to form ZANU-PF.

The Lusaka CHOGM

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Zambia in 1979.

World Bank

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. An international institution, founded in 1944, that funds development projects

Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson (1916-1995). British politician and Prime Minister (1964-1970, 1974-1976).

Whitehall

London street. Site of many government buildings, the term ‘Whitehall’ is often used to refer to the bureaucracy of the British government.

West Indies Federation

The brief (1958-1962) political union between British colonies in the Caribbean, that was intended to become independent from Britain as a single state.

Cyrus Vance

Cyrus Vance (1917-2002). American politician and diplomat, served as Secretary of State (1977-1980) and as a United Nations envoy (1991-1993).

United Nations. Major international organisation, founded in 1945.

Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000). Canadian politician and Prime Minister (1968-1979, 1980-1984).

Oliver Tambo

Oliver Tambo (1917-1993). South African politician and anti-apartheid campaigner.

Spinola

Antonio de Spinola (1910-1996). Portuguese military officer and politician, served as President of Portugal from May-September 1974.

Arnold Smith

Arnold Smith (1915 –1994). Canadian diplomat, the first Commonwealth Secretary-General (1965–1975).

Walter Sisulu

Walter Sisulu (1912-2003). South African anti-apartheid activist who was Secretary-General of the African National Congress from 1949 to 1954. He was Deputy President of the ANC from 1991 to 1994.

Singapore Declaration

The Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles was adopted at the 1971 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Singapore. Click here to read the Declaration in full.

Simonstown Agreement

Under the Simonstown Agreement of 1955, Britain surrendered its naval base at Simonstown, South Africa, and handed command of the South African Navy to the government of South Africa. In return, South Africa agreed to allow Britain use of the port for Royal Navy ships. The Agreement also allowed for the sale of naval arms - valued at £18m over eight years - from Britain to the apartheid regime in South Africa. The Agreement was terminated in 1975, although British naval vessels continued to call at Simonstown and other South African ports.

Nathan Shamuyarira

Nathan Shamuyarira (b. 1928). Zimbabwean politician, served in various ministerial positions in the government of Robert Mugabe, including Information Minister (1980-1987).

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). President of USA (1981-1989).

Shridath Ramphal

Shridath Surendranath 'Sonny' Ramphal (b. 1928). Guyanese politician, second Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990).

Sonny Ramphal (Shridath Ramphal)

Shridath Surendranath 'Sonny' Ramphal (b. 1928). Guyanese politician, second Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990).

Milton Obote

Milton Obote (1925-2005). Ugandan politician, Prime Minister (1962-1966) and President (1966-1971, 1980-1985).

Julius Nyerere

Julius Nyerere (1922-1999). Tanzanian politician and President (1961-1985).

Non-aligned movement

An international organisation of countries that are not aligned with any manjor world power, founded in 1961.

Non-alignment

A national foreign policy position of avowed neutrality towards major powers.

Joshua Nkomo

Joshua Nkomo (1917-1999). Zimbabwean nationalist and leader of ZAPU.

Nkomo (Joshua Nkomo)

Joshua Nkomo (1917-1999). Zimbabwean nationalist and leader of ZAPU.

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) was an Indian politician and prominent leader in the Indian National Congress-led movement for independence from colonial rule. He served as India's first Prime Minister from 1947 to his death in 1964. Nehru was also a key figure in the Non-Aligned Movement, present at its founding in Belgrade in 1961.

Nehru (Jawaharlal Nehru)

National Party. South African political party, founded in 1915, that governed South Africa from 1948 to 1994, instituting a policy of apartheid.

Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe (b.1924). Zimbabwean resistance leader and politician. Served as Prime Minister (1980-1987) and President (1987-) of Zimbabwe.

Abdul Minty

Abdul Minty (b. 1939). South African diplomat.

Don McKinnon

Sir Donald McKinnon (b. 1939) is a New Zealand politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister for the National Party (1990-96), Foreign Minister (1990-99) and Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations (2000-08).

Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki (b.1942). South African politician. He has served as an African National Congress negotiator in the 1980s and 1990s, and as South African Deputy President (1994-1999) and President (1999-2008).

Peter Marshall

Peter Marshall (b. 1946). British diplomat, Deputy Secretary General (Economic & Social) Commonwealth Secretariat from 1983 to 1989.

Margaret Thatcher Foundation

An organisation that promotes the ideas of Margaret Thatcher, founded in 1991.

Michael Manley

Michael Manley (1924-1997). Jamaican politician, twice served as Prime Minister (1972-1980, 1989-1992). A member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa.

Moni Malhoutra (Manmohan Malhoutra)

Manmohan Malhoutra (b. 1937). Indian diplomat, served in the Secretariat of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from 1966 to 1973 then joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, in 1974, to run the International Affairs Division.

Dr Mahathir (Mahathir bin Mohamad)

Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad (b. 1925). Malaysian politician and Prime Minister (1981-2003).

Samora Machel

Samora Machel (1933-1996). Mozambican soldier and politician, served as President (1975-1986).

Richard Luce

Richard Luce (b. 1936). British politician, served in various ministerial positions in the Foreign Office (1979-1982, 1983-1985).

Lancaster House

A London mansion house, frequently used as the venue for decolonisation negotiations between the 1940s and 1970s. It was the site of the Lancaster House Agreement in December 1979, for instance, which brought an end to white rule in Rhodesia.

Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger (b. 1923). American diplomat and politician.

Kenneth Kaunda

Kenneth Kaunda (b.1924). Zambian politician and President (1964-1991).

Geoffrey Howe

Geoffrey Howe (b. 1926). Lord Howe of Aberavon. British politician, held various Cabinet positions in Margaret Thatcher’s government including Foreign Secretary (1983-1989).

High Level Appraisal

The ten-strong High Level Appraisal Group was established at the 1989 CHOGM to look at the role of the Commonwealth going forward, and drafted what became known as the Harare Declaration.

Ted Heath (Edward Heath)

Edward Heath (1916 –2005). British politician and Prime Minister (1970-1974).

Ivan Head

Ivan Head (1930-2004). Canadian lawyer and civil servant. Adviser on foreign affairs to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada.

Bob Hawke

Bob Hawke (b. 1929). Australian Prime Minister (1983-1991).

Ian Gilmour

Ian Gilmour, Lord Gilmour of Craigmillar (1926-2007). British Conservative politician, served as Lord Privy Seal in the government of Margaret Thatcher and spokesman on foreign affairs (1979-1981). He previously served as Secretary of State for Defence in 1974, under Edward Heath.

Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi (1944-1991). Indian politician, served as Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989.

Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi (1917-1984). Indian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1984.

Front Line States

A group of southern African states formed in 1970, which campaigned for democratic majority rule in South Africa.

FRELIMO

FRELIMO (Mozambique Liberation Front) was formed in 1962 as a Mozambican liberation movement. Since independence in 1975 it has been the ruling political party in Mozambique.

Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser (b. 1930). Prime Minister of Australia (1975-1983). Fraser also served as Co-Chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa.

FCO

Foreign and Commonwealth Office. British government department with responsibility for relations with other countries. Created in 1968 from the merger of the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office. Often called 'the Foreign Office'.

EPG

Eminent Persons Group. A group of well-known individuals chosen by the Commonwealth to research a specific issue. The 1985 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting appointed an EPG to report on apartheid in South Africa, published in 1986 as Mission to South Africa. A second EPG was appointed in 2009 and tasked to produce a report on Commonwealth reform for 2011.

Downing Street

London thoroughfare. Number ten is the official residence of the British Prime Minister.

Denis Thatcher

Sir Denis Thatcher (1915-2003). British businessman and husband of Margaret Thatcher.

Delhi in 1983

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was held in New Delhi in 1983.

Cranley Onslow

Cranley Onslow, Baron Onslow of Woking (1926-2001). British Conservative politician. Minister of State at the Foreign Commonwealth Office from 1982 to 1983 and Chairman of the 1922 Committee from 1984 to 1992. Father of Commonwealth Oral Histories interviewer Dr Sue Onslow.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

A Commonwealth organisation that promotes good governance. Founded in 1911 as the Empire Parliamentary Association, and renamed in 1948.

CFTC (Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation)

The Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) is an organisation administered by the Commonwealth Secretariat that delivers technical assistance to Commonwealth member countries. A mutual and voluntary fund, it was established in 1971.

Cold War

A period of ideological tension from around 1945 to 1991 between capitalist nations led by the USA and communist nations led by the USSR.

CHOGM

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Every two years Commonwealth heads of government meet to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, with the aim of promoting common initiatives.

Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro (b. 1926). Cuban revolutionary leader and politician, leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008.

Jimmy Carter

James Earl 'Jimmy' Carter, Jr (b. 1924) is an American Democratic politician who served as 39th President of the United States (1977-1981).

Peter Carrington

Peter Carrington, 6th Baron Carrington (b. 1919). British politician and member of the Conservative party. He was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1979-82) and 6th Secretary General of NATO (1984-88). In 1979 he chaired the Lancaster House conference.

Lord Carrington (Peter Carrington)

James Callaghan

James Callaghan (1912-2005). British politician, Foreign Secretary (1974-1976), and later Prime Minister (1976-1979).

Cabinet Office

A department of the British government, founded in 1916. The Cabinet Office supports the work of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, which comprises senior ministers that lead government departments.

Maurice Bishop

Maurice Bishop (1944-1983). Grenadian politician and Prime Minister (1979-1983). The New Jewel Party under Bishop seized power from Eric Gairy in 1979.

ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Formed in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a political and economic organization of Southeast Asian countries.

Apartheid

A system of legally enforced racial segregation implemented and upheld by the National Party in South Africa from 1948 – 1994

Emeka Anyaoku

Emeka Anyaoku (b. 1933). Nigerian diplomat. Served as Head of the Commonwealth International Affairs Division (1973-1977), Assistant Secretary General (1977-1979); Deputy Secretary General (1979-1991); Secretary General (1991-2001).

ANC

African National Congress. A South African political party, founded in 1912, that opposed apartheid and has been South Africa’s governing party since 1994.

Tom Adams

Tom Adams (1931-1985). Barbadian politician and Prime Minister (1976 -1985).

Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM)

The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British activist organisation founded in 1959 to oppose white minority rule in South Africa. It continued to run until 1994, supporting economic and academic sanctions of South Africa and cooperating with other international organisations like the UN.

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher (1926-2013). British politician and Prime Minister (1979-1990).

Mrs Thatcher (Margaret Thatcher)

Margaret Thatcher (1926-2013). British politician and Prime Minister (1979-1990).

Interview with Sir Don McKinnon

Interview with Vijay Krishnarayan

Interview with The Most Hon Edward Seaga

Interview with K Shankar Bajpai

Interview with the Most Hon PJ Patterson

Interview with Sir Shridath Ramphal

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