India Says Britain Is Out as Commonwealth Leader : Britain Forfeited Its Role as Leader, India Charges

LONDON —  India charged today that Britain has forfeited its historic leadership of the Commonwealth by refusing to impose harsh sanctions against South Africa agreed upon by the other countries at a seven-nation summit.

British officials said limited embargoes conceded by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as a conciliatory gesture to the Commonwealth would affect only 7.5% of the $1.5 billion in annual British-South African trade.

Thatcher shrugged off the recriminations as the visiting leaders headed home after the two-day conference on South Africa which split the Commonwealth, the 49-member association of Britain and its former colonies.

“The result is reasonable for all and we finished up as friendly as we started,” she said of the summit with the leaders of Australia, Canada, India, the Bahamas and African states Zambia and Zimbabwe.

But Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi accused Britain of sacrificing principles for financial gain, while Zambia gibed that Thatcher cut “a pathetic picture” at the summit and Zimbabwe threatened reprisals against British interests.

“It is not the Commonwealth that lost. It is Britain that lost,” Gandhi told a news conference. “Britain is not the leader any more in the Commonwealth . . . because it has compromised basic values and principles for economic ends.”

Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney were less critical of Thatcher. Hawke said Thatcher had made concessions and added, “I don’t think Britain is going to be able to isolate itself from what is happening in the rest of the world.”

Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda said, “Mrs. Thatcher once again let us down. The Commonwealth, however, will go along without her.”

Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Robert Mugabe added, “We will have to examine . . . whether those who support apartheid and have interests in our own country must be allowed to get away with it.”

British opposition parties expressed dismay at their country’s isolation. “The moral leadership of the Commonwealth has passed from Britain to Australia and Canada,” said Liberal Party leader David Steel.