◆ SpookStack

CONFIDENTIAL Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1A 2AH 10 June 1977 Uganda You will wish to have a report on recent developments in Uganda and what action we are taking to meet them. On 8 June, Radio Uganda announced that no British subject would be allowed to leave the country and that their plight would be determined when President Amin returned from the CHGM. We know that this has been put into effect because two UK citizens have been prevented from leaving the country (although another, on UN documentation, was allowed to leave). On 9 June, Radio Uganda announced that President Amin had "returned home" to discover that a British subject had been arrested in his absence for spying and said that he would be tried by a military tribunal and executed if found guilty. Radio Uganda went on to say that Amin had received "concrete evidence" that some Britons were using the French Embassy's facilities "for anti-Uganda subversive activities". President Amin had said that the French should cease to look after British subjects in Uganda with immediate effect. The French Embassy subsequently received an official Note confirming the latter statement, Radio Uganda announced this morning that the name of the arrested British "spy" was Cullen (phonetic - as monitored by the BBC). This name does not appear In the lists of the British community held by us. It is possible that the name is Collins. It is much more likely, however, from all the evidence available, that the person concerned is in fact Mr Robert Scanlon, a Ugandan citizen of UK origin, who renounced his UK citizenship at the end of 1975- We have had a report from the Head of the British Interests Section (BIS) in Kampala that Scanlon was arrested by the State Research Bureau on the afternoon of 9 June, ie after the Radio Uganda announcement. It is just possible that this arrest was additional to the one announced on the radio but it seems more likely that the announcement was in anticipation of the actual arrest. A further Radio Uganda report just received this afternoon states that Britons may not travel by car in groups of more than three and will be put In gaol if they do. The French adopted a robust attitude towards the Ugandan demand that they cease to look after British interests in Uganda. The French Ambassador saw the Ugandan Foreign Minister this morning and handed over a Note denying that the French were permitting espionage by the BIS, insisting that the French had acted in all /respects Patrick Wright Esq., 10 Downing Street CONFTDRMTTAT