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CONFIDENTIAL with Amin which he reports in Kampala tel. no. 2 7 3/( attached). You will see that Amin has moved at least one step forwards in apparently agreeing to set up a Ministerial enquiry to look into Mrs. Bloch's disappearance. Amin asked Mr. Hennessy to postpone his return in order to await a Ugandan statement about Mrs. Bloch tomorrow. Clearly in these circmstances a message from the Prime Minister would not be appropriate. We nevertheless fear that the contents of this statement may still be an unacceptable whitewash or the maintenance of the lie that Mrs. Bloch was returned to Entebbe airport to rejoin the other hostages. In such oiroumotanoefl Ve need to consider our reaction to that possibility. There are strong feelings in Parliament and in the press and the Government will come under pressure to act. There are various courses open to us. The lowest response would be pat to withdraw our High Commissioner. We do not consider that this would be adequate in the circumstances. The Government would certainly be urged to take stronger action. In addition, the remaining High Commission staff would be exposed and in a position of possible danger. We might also consider requiring the Ugandan High Commissioner in London to leave. However, we doubt whether this would satisfy either the gravity of the offence or British public opinion. The next step up the ladder of possible reaction by the Government would be to follow the American precedent of not actually breaking diplomatic relations, but of withdrawing our whole mission from Uganda on the grounds that their task there had become impossible. There are, of course, severe risks in acting in this way. We still have nearly 500 British subjects in Uganda. They would be unprotected - and particularly vulnerable during the process of withdrawal. Even if we warned them that they should consider leaving (and we are consulting Mr. Hennessy urgently about this at the moment), many of the missionary workers and others in related jobs would be reluctant to leave what they regard as a vocation. However, we cannot always tailor our policies to suit the needs of the British community alone. They are fully aware of the risks of living in Uganda and that the ability of the High Commission to protect them is already strictly limited. In 1974 Amin twice threatened th. expel the British community at short notice following hostile comments by the press. /The CONFIDENTIAL