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CONFIDENTIAL Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1A 2AH Uganda: Message to the Prime Minister Thank you for your letter of 9 June. The advice contained in my letter of 6 June reflected our view, now proved to be erroneous, that the Prime Minister would not countenance propitiation of Amin on this issue. But as Mr Wilson is prepared to envisage a friendly and reasoned response, we see advantage in his proposal and on the basis of past experience would expect Amin to be pleased to receive such a message. This may, as the Prime Minister suggests, prove helpful in the context of Mr Hills' case. We know that some of the Commonwealth countries, most notably Tanzania and Zambia, are highly critical of Amin and unlikely to send senior representatives to the Kampala conference. We should not wish them to feel that our response to Amin's message isolated them to any degree and in the attached telegram we recommend that the Prime Minister should send a simple message dealing with the allegation of British complicity. We note the Prime Minister's interest in the contingency plans which have berni made for reprisals or sanctions if Mr Hills is killed. This is something that the Department has had much in mind, although it has been difficult to take things very far until we know the exact circumstances which will surround the executioi In all of our thinking we have had to bear in mind the possible danger to the remaining 800 or so UK citizens resident in Uganda and the need to preserve such prospects as there are of our achieving compensation for those UK citizens whose property was expropriated in Uganda in 1972. In view of the Prime Minister's concern, we shall now review urgently what could be done. Mr Callaghan has not seen this advice, but a copy will be in his box tonight. I shall let you know his comments. Patrick Wright, Esq., 10 Downing Street. CONFIDENTIAL