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CONFIDENTIAL -.Foreign and Commonwealth Office i- 1 London SW1A 2AH ; / 8 November 1978 i\ on Tanzania In your letter of 3iJ2ctober you said that the Prime Minister considered that before deciding on defence aid to Tanzania we should wait to see how the Uganda-Tanzania military situation developed and whether President Nyerere made any specific requests. Our High Commissioner at Dar-es-Salaam has now received personal requests from both President Nyerere and the Prime \ Minister, Mr Sokoine, for our help with the supply of a very wide \ range of equipment, including military vehicles, radio, bridging equipment, amphibious craft and armaments (Dar-es-Salaam telnos / 793 and 795-7, copies enclosed). They have put their request in parallel to the Canadians. They are vague on payment terms, but the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary believes that any supplies should be on a commercial basis. It is clearly impossible, even if we wished, to meet more than a small part of the Tanzanian requirements. Dr Owen therefore believes that we should concentrate on trying to hasten delivery of the considerable existing Tanzanian orders. We could also try- to ensure rapid provision of certain further equipment in limited fields, such as assault craft. If the Tanzanians have serious problems over payment, Dr Owen believes we might at that stage consider the possibility of meeting the cost of air-freighting certain items of key equipment, with Tanzania paying for the equip- ment. Such deliveries should be undertaken by commercial airlines. Our latest reports indicate that President Amin may now be considering a withdrawal. However we have no hard information, and Dr Owen believes that we should give the Tanzanians an initial response quickly. Meanwhile Mr Moon has been instructed to say that we are doing what we can to hasten delivery of existing orders and are examining the rest of the list urgently. I am copying this letter to Roger Jackling (MOD), Kingsley Jones (HM Treasury) and Martin Vile (Cabinet Office). J S Wall Private Secretary Bryan Cartledge Esq 10 Downing Street CONFIDENTIAL