South Africa

Britain, in its unique position as the former colonial power and the major investing country in South Africa, had been one of the main targets of Black South Africans' diplomatic efforts since the establishment of the Union in 1910. By the end of World War Two and the following election of the Nationalist Party in 1948, most of the hopes for British support of the predicament of Black South Africans had shifted to the United Nations (UN) and the newly independent African states. Nevertheless, because of its economic and historic links Britain, and London in particular, continued to hold a special relationship with South Africa. From the 1950's, British support did eventually start to come, not from the Government though, but from anti-apartheid and church groups, and sections of the Labour and Liberal Parties. Moreover, ever since the 1940's, a growing number of South Africans had been arriving in London, which, after Sharpeville and the banning of the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), became a centre for the exiled liberation movements to continue their struggle from abroad.…