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CONFIDENTIAL at London Airport on Friday night. He undertook to arrange for our message to be delivered to President Amin and promised that the Saudis would do their best to persuade Amin that it was not in his interests, or those of the Commonwealth, to attend the Heads of Government Meeting. There is some advantage in asking the Saudis to deliver the message to President Amin on Wednesday which would probably mean flying out from London one of his diplomats on Tuesday evening. A message delivered to Amin by the Saudis, accompanied by a message from Prince Fahd, could help to calm him down and give him more time to find some face-saving formula for declining to attend the Commonwealth Meeting. President Amin is planning to visit Kinshasa on 5 June. The Zaire Government have helped us before and we could possibly seek their help again. ' 8. A further reason why early delivery of our message by the Saudis could be helpful is that they could warn President Amin of the debate in the House of Commons on Friday and of the strength of feeling that is likely to be shown during it. There is just a chance that President Amin will announce a decision not to come to London before the debate takes place or alternatively to issue a definite statement of an intention to come and reveal the contents of your letter. If he has said nothing by Friday, I see no need for us to reveal the decision we have taken. We should allow Mr Brotherton's motion to pass and confirm that President Amin would not be welcome and we should reveal during the debate that you have sent a message to Amin, but only in very general terms /such as CONFIDENTIAL