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_ 2 - CONFIDENTIAL Dr Owen told Prince Fahd that the Prime Minister would be very grateful for his help and would wish to discuss the matter with him when they met on Sunday. You may wish to tell the Prim Minister that Dr Owen's view Is th± the message to President Ami should be sent during the coming week, so as to reach him not later than Wednesday, 25 May. We might ask the Saudis to tell President Amln that there was a debate in the House of Commons at the end of the week and so give him the opportunity to stand down before then if he wanted. If there had been no response by Friday, Dr Owen would be prepared to stone-wall during the debate. If, on the other hand, President Amin revealed the contents of our message then our position would anyway be clear by the time the debate took place. If you get into a discussion of timing on Sunday, you may wis to tell the Saudi Ambassador that, as far as I have been able to establish, there are only two flights a week from London to Kampala (Entebbe). The most suitable would be a flight which leaves London on Tuesday evening at 1900 hours and arrives at Entebbe (following a change to Sabena Airlines at Brussels) at 0720 hours on the Wednesday morning. The second flight (also indirect) leaves London on Saturday night and arrives at Entebbe on Sunday afternoon. At the meeting of Ministers which took place yesterday, the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary was asked to draft the text of the message which the Prime Minister might send to President Amin. I enclose such a draft which has been cleared with the Home Secretary. I am copying this letter to the Private Secretaries of the other Ministers who attended yesterday's meeting and to Martin Vile in the Cabinet Office. (J. S. Wall) CONFIDENTIAL