Family Quarrels

The empire strikes sparks

The minute Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip stepped out of their British Airways TriStar at New Delhi's Palam airport, they were greeted by marching bands, a 21-gun salute and officers arrayed in spotless finery. As a Mercedes six-door limousine ferried the royal visitors through the chrysanthemum-lined streets, welcoming banners fluttered before them and wizened shopkeepers craned their necks to wave at perhaps the world's richest woman. On the last leg of an 18-day, three-nation swing through Africa and Asia, the Queen made it clear that royalty can still command loyalty.

On this occasion, Her Majesty was also something of a power behind the throne. As nominal leader of the Commonwealth, a loose association of 48 former British colonies, she was working quietly "behind the scenes," as one aide put it, to tighten the ties that still bind those nations. She held private talks with each of the 36 heads of government who had assembled in New Delhi for the Commonwealth's seventh biennial meeting.

The Queen's distinctly informal role fits the summit's deliberately improvised format. Almost the only rule of Commonwealth summits is that there are no written rules and no formal votes. Instead, the leaders, who represent one quarter of the world's people, gather for a week-long discussion about matters of mutual concern. The summit's closed-door sessions are conducted on a first-name basis and, of course, in English. Actions are taken only by consensus.

Nonetheless, the family reunion splintered into fraternal bickering. Shortly after Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi welcomed the participants, a majority of them began pushing for a resolution condemning the Oct. 25 U.S. invasion of Grenada. Leaders from five of the Eastern Caribbean states that had joined the U.S. forces refused to go along. In the course of an unusually acrimonious discussion, a vocal contingent from the African states of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mauritius claimed that the U.S. action might encourage the South Africans to invade neighboring countries on the pretext of protecting its nationals abroad. In response, Dominica's Prime Minister Eugenia Charles, who had stood at President Reagan's side when he announced the Grenadian operation, replied, "They ask, 'Who's next?' Well, that's just what we asked ourselves." By week's end, however, the leaders had apparently agreed upon a resolution condemning intervention without mentioning the U.S.

The informality that loosens tongues among Commonwealth leaders sometimes serves to tie their hands. When, for example, it was suggested that the Commonwealth provide its own "umbrella of security" for its smaller members, including Grenada, many strongly opposed the move as too formal and forceful a gesture. But the body finally did agree to lend support to a new security force to be formed by the Eastern Caribbean states.

Those troublesome debates delayed consideration of a favorite Commonwealth topic: a "new world economic order" that would allow fairer distribution of resources to poorer nations. The Commonwealth is not a rich man's club: its countries include 80% of all people in the world earning less than $200 a year. In the economic arena, too, disenchantment with the U.S. was in evidence. In a report to his colleagues, Shridath Ramphal, 55, a former Guyanese Foreign Minister who serves as the Commonwealth's secretary-general, decried "the tendency of the United States, the world's richest nation, to distance itself increasingly from the generosity and enlightenment which marked the high point of its internationalism."

Midway through the talks, the leaders repaired to the seaside resort of Goa for three days. The respite, and the resolution of the Grenadian issue, may have put the participants in a sunnier mood for their New Delhi discussions this week. An end to the grumpiness seemed quite likely, since the talks were expected to turn to subjects on which the members are mostly in agreement: the independence of Namibia from South Africa (which the Commonwealth supports), and the declaration of an independent state two weeks ago by ethnic Turks in Commonwealth-member Cyprus (which the body deplores). But one unifying factor would be missing: the Queen, after winding up her visit to India, returned to London at week's end. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.