80s31. Vigil for Commonwealth sanctions

Commonwealth leaders met in London, 3–5 August 1986, to discuss further sanctions against South Africa. Earlier in the year a Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group mission concluded that the apartheid government was not prepared to negotiate an end to minority rule. The AAM mounted an intensive campaign to show that public opinion in Britain rejected Prime Minister Thatcher’s anti-sanctions policy. It held a three-day vigil outside the summit and published an Emergency Declaration in the Observer newspaper. On the opening day of the summit ANC leader Alfred Nzo and Trevor Huddleston led a march from an inter-faith service at St James’s, Piccadilly to Marlborough House.