George Thomas returns from Nigeria

George Thomas returns from Nigeria; CS:Thomas: SOF: (How serious was the civil war) It's very difficult. In Lagos itself there is no signthat hostilities have begun. The people are laughing and talking and when I listened to their news item last night on the equivalent of ITN they told us about troubles in Hong Kong, in Bolivia, in various part of the world, not one reference to their own troubles, so it is probably being played down and it is difficult to make an estimate. (Do you think there is any chance of oil supplies from the Eastern region of Nigeria being resumed in the near future). That is a very difficult question to answer, yesterday I talked to General Gowon that international law was entirely opposed to the sanctions they've imposed on the Oil Companies, who after all, had to make a payment under duress, to Mr Ojukwu who is in charge of the Eastern part of Nigeria. I left with General Gowon a written statement of our views of the international law and I also left behind two of our officials from the Commonwealth Office, one of our lawyers and one of our chief officials, and they're going to have conversations tomorrow with the Attorney General and other officials of the Federal Military Government and if there could be agreement, then the oil could flow.Neg. 16mm. ITN (Best) & Brenards: 1.50mins: 69ft:9.7.67/9.55pm: