(Archived document, may contain errors)
62 August 9, 1978 RHODESIA IN TRA MSI TION i INTRODUCTION On
March 3, 1978, the Rhodesian government, represented by Prime
Minister Ian Smith, reached an agreement with.three nation alist
leaders for a transition to constitutional majority rule.
This agreement, which has since become known as the Internal Set
tlement, included Bishop Abel Mu zorewa, the Reverend Ndabaningi
Sithole, and Chief Jeremiah Chirau, representing respectively the
United African National Council, the African National Council and
the Zimbabwe United Peoples Organization (ZUPO The tribal blocs
represented by these leader s , plus the white minority led by
Smith, represent together about 80 percent of the population of
Rhodesia. The leaders of the Patriotic Front (PF Robert Mugabe and
Joshua Nkomo, did not support the Internal Settlement on the
grounds that it perpetuated wh i te minority control. The Internal
Settlement did not exclude the guerrillas of the Patriotic Front
but the signatories insisted that they lay down their arms before
participating. On July 26, 1978, the Rhodesian government announced
that elections would b e held on December 4 through the 6th.
Nor did the governments of the United States and Great Bri tain
accept the Internal Settlement, on the grounds that a set tlement
that did not include the forces of the PF could not work.
Furthermore, as State Department spokesman John Trattner stated
after the conclusion of the Internal Settlement The Salisbury
regime is an illegal regime.
Therefore administrative arrangements it makes of that kind we
are talking about 2 are also illegal Quoted in Con ressional Recor
d, June 28, 1978, p. s9 The policy of the Carter Administration,
vigorously defended by Assistant Secretary of State for African
Affairs Richard Moose and by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Andrew Young, has become the center of controversy to enfor c e
economic sanctions against Rhodesia and does not recog nize its
government, but continues at the same time to give eco nomic aid
and external recognition to African states that are actively
engaged in support of the guerrillas and terrorists oper ating a
gainst the Rhodesian government. At the same time, these states are
themselves ruled by one-party, often pro-Marxist regimes and are
far less motivated to establish democratic pro cedures or to
protect human rights than the cosigners of the Internal Settl e
ment appear to be, though the Carter Administra tion continues to
assert the importance of human rights to its foreign policy. The
apparently contradictory policies of the Administration have
stimulated the controversy over Rhodesia, as have other factors .
The economic and strategic importance of Rhodesia not only to the
U.S.,but also to the rest of Africa the threat of intensified
Soviet and Cuban involvement in Rhodesia as ,in Angola, Mozambique,
and Ethiopia in the recent past), the escalation of terror i st
violence since the Internal Settlement and the hope at last of a
peaceful transition to majority rule with a consensus of both
blacks and whites: 'all these have caused the policies of the
Administration to come under serious scrutiny from those who se e k
a peaceful resolution of the Rho desian crisis A review of these
policies, the prospects of the Internal Settlement itself, and of
the alternatives now before Rhodesia.and the United States are
examined in the following pages The Administration 'continu e s
WHAT IS AT STAKE'IN RHODESIA The protracted controversy over the
future government of Rhodesia derives from a growing awareness in
the West of the importance of southern Africa in the future of
mankind. Not only questions of human rights and the future o f
democracy are at stake, but also very material issues relating to
international security and vital economic resources A brief
discussion of some of these issues and their relationship to US
policies is aFpropriate 1) Human Rights and Democracy: The emer g
ence of national ist movements and of profound interest in
combatting racialist policies underlie much of the concern for the
future of Rhodesia in the US. It seems to be primarily the desire
to see racial equality and majority rule in Rhodesia that anima t
es the Carter Administration and the policies of British Foreign
Secretary David Owen. Comparisons are frequently made between the
struggles 3 for racial equality in Africa and the civil rights
movement in the US, and Andrew Young has stated that he has a p
plied lessons he learned in the civil rights movement to his
diplomacy in Africa. Others, no less concerned to bring about a
reduction of racial injustice and the promotion of democracy, argue
that this analogy is not entirely valid: that whereas US black s
have tended to act as a bloc for progress in civil rights, Afrikan
blacks axe more split up into tribal, national, and ideological
categories and do not always exhibit concern for civil liber ties.
To think of African movements as similar in aspirations o r
composition to American black movements is therefore mis leading
and potentially dangerous 2) International Complications Africa:
The neighbors of Rhodesia have lons had an important stake in the
outcome of its internal arrangements terest in seeing a b l ack
government come to power there, if only because their own
nationalist ideologies and propaganda demand this. The five
Front-Line states (Zambia, Angola, Mozam bique, Botswana, and
Tanzania however, have more material interests in Rhodesia. The
install a tion of a black government in Salisbury friendly to
Zambia or Mozambique (the two princi pal African supporters of the
Patriotic Front) could result in economic or.territoria1
concessions-'to those states The pros pects of such rewards could
lead to Rhode s ia being .turned into a war zone in which competing
states support rival guerrilla factions in a violent scramble for
Rhodesian resources. South Africa, on the.other hand, as the only
other white-ruled nation in southern Africa, has a clear interest
in pr e venting this development and in assuring an orderly
transition to majority rule. It is for this reason that Prime
Minister Vorster has thus far tacitly supported the March
Settlement and has refused to endorse the Anglo-American Plan
previously put forwar d by Mr. Owen and Ambassador Young.
Furthermore, the South African right-wing critics of Vorster, who
oppase any compromise leading to a share of power with the blacks,
can point to the Carter Administration's policy as a justification
of their view that t h e US opposes a moderate settlement. There is
thus an extrem ist element in South Africa that rejects the
Internal Settlement and applauds the US policies as much as the
black states on Rhodesia's borders. The failure to establish a
moderate multi from mov i ng further away from apartheid The-
black-ruled states have an in- racial government in Salisbury would
discourage South Africa 3) International Complications The Great
Powers: Both the US and the USSR have interests in Rhodesia and in
southern Africa in general. As former Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger stated recently, the US undertook a role in Rhodesia
precisely because of the concern over a great power confrontation.
Dr.
Kissinger told the Hearst Newspapers that, with the collapse of
the Portuguese empire in Africa the entire strategic situationc. 5
A 4 in' Southern Africa changed. I' Rhodesia bec'ame vulnerable to
guerrilla attacks from neighboring Mozambique. When the US Congress
failed to give arms for the pro-western factions in Angola, the Sov
iet Union found an open field for'its own opera tions and the Cuban
troops it sponsored.
Since 1975, the Soviets have increased their aid and'rela tions
enormously to a number of African states, most notably to Angola,
Moz'ambique, Ethiopia and to SWAP0 in Southwest Africa Namibia).
Cuba now has over 45,000 troops in 13 African countries and East
Germans have also been reported to be present. The guer rillas of
Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Mugabe's
Zimbabwe African National Union (ZAN U ) are openly trained by
Cubans in Zambia and Mozambique and receive Soviet weaponry and
assistance. In an interview with Newsweek (March 13, 1978, p. 451
Joshua Nkomo stated that "We have been receiving all necessary help
from the socialist countries, the Soviet Union as well as Cuba It
is arms, ammunition and things like that." When asked if there was
a danger of war in Rhodesia similar to ,the."savage war in the Horn
of Africa Nkomo replied I am afraid so, yes.
Things are taking a very dangerous turn."
It has. been the direct aid of the Soviets and Cubans that has
enabled the guerrillas to continue and esca1ate.thei.r war fare,
but the United States and Great Britain give no aid economic or
military, to Rhodesia-and continue to.enforce the UN sanctions
against trade with Rhodesia. At the same time, the US is actually
providing assistance to the front-line states that sponsor the
guerrillas and terrorists in Rhodesia.
A dilemria to which the policy of the Carter Administration
leads is that, at the same t ime it is protesting Soviet and Cuban
intervention in other parts of Africa, its policy toward Rhodesia
is promoting conditions that encourage Soviet and Cuban
intervention there also. The Administration is currently in sisting
on the position that the Pa t riotic Front must be in volved in a
settlement, but it is not insisting that the Frat lay down its
arms, support the Internal Settlement of March 3 or renounce the
assistance of the Soviets and Cubans. If the Rhodesian government
were to support the Admin i stration posi tion and admit the
guerrillas to either a share of power or as the Front itself
demands) total power, it would find itself faced with an armed
force supplied and supported by the Soviet Union and its surrogates
4) The Econoqic Resources of R h odesia: Still another reason why
the future of Rhodesia is of vital concern is its large supply of
economic and natural resources can be grouped into three
categories: (a) the .economic base developed in Rhodesia b) the
natural resources of Rhodesia, and T hese resources 5 c) the
technical and managera1 infrastructure of the economy The following
table gives some idea of the economic importance of Rhodesia's
natural. resources to Africa and the world Production of Selected
Minerals in Rhodesia As of Copper G old Chromite Nickel Asbestos
Tungsten Antimony Corundum Free World Production 1973 1.0 1.5 10.0
2.5 Source: Walter F. Hahn and 3.0 Alvin J. Cottrell, Soviet 1.0
Shadow over Africa (Washington 05 DC: Center for Advanced Inter
79.0 national Studies, 19771, p . 36 It should also be pointed out
that Rhodesia has 67.3 percent of the world supply,of metallurgical
grade chromite, essential to the production of high grade steel in
the US, Western Europe, and Japan has been imported duct increased
from RhS682.9 mill ion in 1965 to RhS2680.8 million in 19
74. Its exports (principally tobacco, asbestos, copper, cloth
ing meat, chromite, sugar, pig iron, and coal) increase d from
RhS91.7 million in 1968 to RhS328.5 million in 1972 The present
official exchange rate values RhS.71 at US$l It is clear that a
protracted war (foreign or internal) or rigorously enforced
sanctions could rapidly debilitate the Rho desian economy. A l
though this would no doubt undermine the white minority, its direct
effects would also be felt (and probably far more seriously) by the
black majority. As employment fell, pro duction ceased, and the
services provided declined, it would be the lower incom e and less
well educated sectors of society that would bear the burden.
Thewhites could relocate (although at great cost) in Britain,
Eurppe, America, ot South Africa, but it is doubtful that the
blacks could make such a transition as easily or as successf u lly.
The indirect costs of economic regress would also be high, as these
could involve polifical destabilization inflation, and migration.
Ian Smith has publicly stated that the economic threats to'
Rhodesia are of much greater concern to him than the mil i tary
threats One hundred percent of the chromite According to the World
Bank, Rhodesia's gross domestic pro The importance of Rhodesia to
the world economy is not limited to the interests of the Western
developed nations, however. Because of its superior t echnical and
managerial infrastructure, and because many.states in Africa have
been unsuccessful in dealing with their own economic development
(e.g.8 Zaire, which owes Western banks $3 billion Rhodesia is
crucial for the further development of southern A f rica 1 I THE
EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNAL SETTLEMENT The agreement reached in
Salisbury on March 3 reflects a 13 year process of conflict and
negotiation among the Rhodesian gov ernment, the black
nationalists, and the external powers of Africa and the West A
lthough Rhodesia declared its independence on No vember 11, 1965,
the policies of Great Britain, the United States and the United
Nations have persistently refused to accept its white minority
government as legitimate. UN sanctions have esca lated from a s
elective ban on economic relations in 1966 to a to tal embargo in
1968, and an attempted resolution of the Security Council in 1970
to invoke the war-making powers of the UN against Rhodesia This
resolution was vetoed by the United States, the first time i n
history it exercised the veto power in the Security Council The
United States has fluctuated in its support for the economic
sanctions. President Johnson issued Executive Orders sup porting
the sanctions and prohibiting US imports of Rhodesian goods and
products in 1967 and 1968, but in 1971 these were reversed by the
Byrd Amendment to the United Nations Participation Act of 1945,
which permitted the importation of Rhodesian chrome into the US.
The Byrd Amendment was itself repealed by Congress in 1977 a nd the
sanctions are now being enforced.
These sanctions did not, in the event, seriously retard
Rhodesia's economic growth or threaten its political
stability'.
A far more serious threat to it derived from the independence of
Portugue.se col-onies in southern Africa in 19
75. In Angola and Mozambique, Marxist one-party regimes came to
power with the aid of Soviet and Cuban materials and personnel. The
dominance of these factors was a direct threat to Rhodesia.
Mozambique shares a border with Rhodesia and controls Rhodesia's
closest access to the sea. It was in fact through Portuguese
Mozambique that oil shipments had reached Rhodesia despite the UN
sanctions Faced with these new hostile regimes, which now harbored
and Smith aided Rhodesian nationalist an d revolutionary forces,
the Smith government was obliged to seek compromises with the
demands of its opponents within and the Western powers without its
borders himself began talks with black nationalists, represented by
Joshua Nkomo, in December, 1975, bu t in March,1976, Nkomo withdrew
from these negotiations. US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger then
sought to bring pressure on Rhodesia to accept a plan for a gradual
transition to majority rule. This effort succeeded in forging a
plan called the Kissinge r -Smith Plan, released on September 24
1976 In October, 1976, a Conference at Geneva between British UN
Ambassador Ivor Richard, Ian Smith, and four Rhodesian nationalists
convened to work out nationalist acceptance of the transition peri
od of two years. T he nationalists (Nkomo, Mugabe, Muzorewa, and
Sithole) rejected this concept and insisted on a transition period
of twelve months. On this basis the talks at Geneva failed X 1 7
New efforts were made LIY the governments of the US and Great
Britain to desi g n a plan acceptable to the nationalists, and ano
ther plan was submitted in Salisbury on September 1, 1977, by
British Foreign Secretary Owen and Ambassador Young. This, known as
the "Anglo-American Plan," also called for a transitional gov
ernment (of si x months) and provided outlines of the proposed
constitutional settlement. The reaction to this plan from the na
tionalists. as well as from the white minority was at best
subdued.
Smith felt that the Anglo-American Plan (AAP) did not adequately
protect th e white minority. He objected to giving a UN force re
sponsibility for Rhodesian security and to the immense power for
the Commissioner. He submitted a memorandum to the British gov
ernment discussing the plan, but received no reply.
But the death blow to the AAP was actually dealt by Nkomo and
Mugabe of the Patriotic Front. Meeting with Lord Carver, the
proposed British Resident Commissioner, in Dar es Salaam on October
31, 1977, the two guerrilla leaders insisted that substantial power
be handed over to them directly. They rejected the ideas of giving
sole authority to the British Commissioner and of allowing security
to be in the hands of the Rhodesian police and a UN Security
Force.
They proposed the postponement of elections for three years,
during wh ich time the leaders of.the Patriotic Front would try to
bring other black leaders into the political structure. Originally
intended to consist of two days of talks on reaching a ceasefire
Lord Carver's meeting with Nkomo and Mugabe last d little more tha
n an hour, and the ceasefire question never arose The Patriotic
Front's demands were unacceptable to either Smith or black
moderates who realized that Nkomo and Mugabe knew they lacked
popular support among Rhodesian blacks and were there meeting,
Smith fi n ally rejected the Anglo-American Plan and pro mised, on
November 24, that he would begin discussions with black leaders
within Rhodesia in order to reach an agreement on "majority rule
based on adult suffrage,I' with safeguards for the white minor ity.
Re p resentatives of all parties were invited to participate but
Nkomo and Mugabe refused to attend After several months of
discussion and bargaining, the nego tiators announced their
agreement on March 3, 1978, but despite the consensus which Smith,
Muzorewa, 4 itholer and Chirau reached, the reaction to the
Internal Settlement was not favorable. Despite initial attempts of
both the US and Great Britain to induce Mugabe and Nkomo to take
part in further discussions, both leaders of the Front refused to
do so. Th e y denounced the signatories as traitors and described
the Settlement as a perpetuation of apartheid. On March 9,
President Carter urged another meeting of all factions to fore
opposed to elections. Three weeks after the Dar es Salaam try to
settle their d ifferences, and on March il, Secretary Vance sought
1. The Economist, November 5, 1977, p. 91 2 Ibid November 26, 1977,
p. 75.
I 8 to bring these factions to a conference. Nkomo and Mugabe,
who had earlier rejected the Anglo-American Plan,.now stated that
it was the only plan on which they were willing to hold discussions
and remained firm in .their denunciation. of the Internal Settle
ment.3 It is to be noted that the US did not try to persuade Nkomo
and Mugabe to join.the Internal Settlement tary of Stat e Moose
stated Assistant Secre They are concerned that we're trying to
press them to join the internal settlement. We ex plained that
we're simply frying to get all the parties together to find a
formula involv ing all of them Washington Post, March 12 197 8 , p
Al9 Bishop Muzorewa made a special trip to the United States to
address the United Nations on the Internal Settlement, but was not
allowed to speak before it. On March 14, the Security Council
adopted a resolution that declared any settlement reached b y the
illegal Rhodesian regime" to be itself "illegal and unacceptable
and urged all nations to reject the settlement all-party
conference. The Reverend Sithole and Bishop Muzorewa felt that such
a meeting would be an act of weakness and would undermine c o
nfidence in the Internal Settlement. They pointed out that it would
make little sense for them to ask the guerrillas of the Patriotic
Front to lay down arms at the same time that they would be meeting
with the leaders of the guerrillas. Following the refu sal,
Secretaries Vance and Owen told the signatories that there was no
chance for recognition of the Internal Settlement until free
elections were held with substantial black turnouts.
This statement gave further incentive to the Patriotic Front to
resist the Internal Settlement and to escalate the war in order to
undermine the electoral process and to prevent black partici pation
in the elections To counteract this incentive, and in keeping with
the terms of the Internal Settlement, the Rhodesian governme n t on
May 2 offered unconditional amnesty to all guerrilas. The
government declared The moderate black leaders in Rhodesia
themselves refused an We stress once again that nobody is barred or
excluded from the process. Those outside the country are free to r
eturn and play their part under the amnesty, provided only that
they come in peace Washington Post, May 3, 1978, p. Al 3.
Washington Post, March 12, 1978, p. A19. 9 Meeting again in Dar es
Salaam in April, Secretaries Vance and Owen were unable to promote
any contpromise on the part of Nkomo and Mugabe. Although the
leaders of the PF and the interim government tentatively agreed to
further discussion, Nkomo and Mugabe insisted on a dominant role
for themselves in a transition under the AAP,and the Rhodesia n
government refused to renegotiate the Internal Settlement. What did
emerge from these talks was the absolutely intransigent position of
Nkomo and Mugabe insisted that they have a ma.jority in the
transitional government that their guerrillas take over po l ice
functions in Rhodesia and that heir forces should share military
authority with any Mugabe was asked if he considered himself a
Marxist They UN force.hi Interviewed in -yewsweek (March 20, 1978,
p. 52 He replied Yes, I do. And this is because we hold t hat the
best way in which you can organize your socio economic order is by
taking the people and their interests into account the people as a
people, and not as individuals. The resources that are in a country
do not belong to indivi duals, to profiteers a nd to other fortune
seeking individuals Asked if he would allow a multi-party system in
Rhodesia after coming to power, Mugabekaid If our people opt for a
one-party state, fine that will be it and I think that will be the
order of the day If our people op t for a one-party state, fine
that will be it and I think that will be the order of the day.
In a further interview with a Swedish reporter on April 16,
Mugabe said he rejected the AAP's plan for a Commissioner with
"absolute power" and that the PF "propos ed that it have eight
representa tives in the ruling council" and that "the Smith
regime's forces must be disarmed and our forces take their place."5
Ambassador Young later stated that he believed the Patriotic Front,
the inclusion of which he was still s u pporting, was aiming at
"personal power I Meanwhile the guerilla war in Rhodesia escalated.
Prior to the March 3 Settlement the war cost an average of 8 lives
per day; afterwards, it escalated to 15 per day. The Rhodesian
government was spending Rh$1 mill ion per day on the war, but
reported 5 or 6 guerrillas killed for every Rhodesian soldier.
By the beginning of April, 1,100 persons had been killed in the
war since January 1; 600 of them were guerrillas and 114 were
guerrilla collaborators. The security forces had lost 83 men.
There had been.24-,white civilian casualties. As of July 1, soon
4. .The Economist, April'22, 1978, p. 80 5. Foreign Broadcast
Information Service: Sub-Saharan Africa, Daily.Report Annex, April
21, 1978, pp. E4 and E5. .e lo after t he massacre of 13
missionaries near Umtali by MugabeIs forces, the total number of
whites killed throughout the war over 3,500; and 31 missionaries
had been killed 4 was 172 and the total number of black civilians
killed was These statistics, of course, d o not reflect the
brutality of the guerrilla tactics As Rhodesian Defense Minister
Roger Hawkins has stated, "nice people merely kill by
shooting."
Reliable reports, including photographic evidence, show that
conventional tactics of the guerrillas include beating to death
mutilation of the face and sexual organs, forcible rape burning
alive, and forced cannibalism. Mugabe, however, denies that his
forces are responsible for these atrocities, and blames them on the
Rhodesian security forces, an accusation w h ich recently had some
tentative support from Andrew Young. However the evidence that
anti-government forces are responsible is overwhelming and includes
not only ballistic evidence but also the eye witness reports of the
survivors in innumerable inci dent s . Furthermore, it is difficult
to see what possible motive the Rhodesian Government would have to
murder its own mission aries and supporters. The government has
thus far closed down schools for 200,000 black children (15 of 62
primary schools and 12 of i t s secondary schools), three of its 40
hospitals six of its 149 missions, and one of its two
teacher-training colleges. The closings affect the ability of the
government to control the countryside, and the costs involved far
outweigh whatever putative adva n tages the government might gain
by the slaughter of its own supporters and missionaries. 6 ANALYSIS
OF THE THREE PLANS The three plans thus far proposed for majority
rule in Rhodesia are complicated and bear close scrutiny A common
fea ture of all three i s that each one provides for a transitional
government to usher in the era of majority rule, a plan for the
post-transition constitution, and some measure of safeguards,
either internal or international, for the protection of the white
minor ity and the se c urity of the constitutional regime It will
be useful to view these plans in terms of these categories A The
Kissinger Smith Plan (KSP) (September 24, 1976 1. Transition: The
KSP proposes a transition period of two years, as opposed to the
Anglo-American P l an's AAP) six months and the Internal
Settlement's IS) nine months (from March 3 to December 31, 1978 The
KSP proposes that during these years 6. For the statistics on the
war, see the following: To the Point International July 14, 1978,
p. 8ff; Intellige nce Digest, April 26, 1978; The Economist April 1
and July 1, 1978, p. 54 and p. 58; Newsweek, July 3, 1978, p.
43. For a report on the terrorist atrocities with photographic
evidence, see Robin Moore, "Tactics of Terrorism," Con servative
Digest, May, 1978, p. 16ff. f 11 Rhodesia would be governed by a
two-tier apparatus consisting of a Council of State and a Council
of Ministers The former would consist of half black and half white
members with a white chair man who would not ha v e a special vote.
Its function would be to initiate legislation and to supervise the
government and the drafting of the constitution. The Council of
Ministers would consist of a majority of blacks and a black first
minister and a white minority. The minis ters of Law and Defense
(who control the police and security forces) would be white.
Ministers would have delegated legislative authority and
executive responsibility,and would make decisions by a 2/3 majority
The Council of The transition would be facilit ated by enabling
legislation passed by the Rhodesian and British Parliaments. Once
the interim government was established, sanctions would be lifted
and all acts of war would cease, including guerrilla war. The
Salisbury government's acceptance of the pla n was contingent upon
these two conditions 2. Safe ards: The KSP proposed as safeguards
an interna tional trust und established outside Rhodesia and
intended to promote economic development and security in the
country. This fund would insure that internati o nal contributors
would have a vested interest in maintaining Rhodesian stability,
and the fund would also underwrite pension rights, home and farm
investments and overseas 'remittances of 3. Constitution: The no
detailed proposals for a there. would be on e and that B The
Anglo-American Plan individual resources.
KSP, unlike the AAP and the IS, made constitution other than to
state that it would be based on majority rule AAP September 1, 1977
1. Transition: The AAP proposed a much simpler transition than th e
other two plans. Quite simply, all power was to be vested in a
Resident Commissioner appointed by and responsible to the British
Government. The Commissioner, in whom "will be vested
responsibility for all executive and legislative functions of the
Gove r nment of Southern Rhodesia will himself be the legislature,"
will be commander in chief of all armed forces and the police
forces, and will "exercise supervision and control over all
Ministries and departments of government The Smith Government, as
an ill e gal and rebellious regime, would have no legal existence
or standing, though the Resident Commissioner would provide for the
continuity of most members of the civil service and judiciary. A
justiciable Bill of Rights, modelled on similar American, British
and UN documents, would be proclaimed by the interim government and
a Bill of Rights "on the lines" of this one would be retained in
the constitution. However, the Resident Commissioner would have the
authority to suspend the Bill of Rights during the tra n sition by
declaring a public emergency begun and terminated sole on his own
discretion. In sho.rt, the AAP proposed to establish a dictatorship
as a transition government r A I 12 2. Safeguards: The AAP proposed
safequards as cons sting of (a) a justiciab l e Bill of Rights and
the constitutional struc ture with some reserved seats in the
National Assembly; (b) a Zimbabwe Development Fund" to insure
Rhodesian economic devel opment and security, to be managed by the
World Bank and under written by internation a l contributors; (c) a
UN security force during the transition which would supervise the
ceasefire,.support the government, and conduct liaison with
existing Rhodesian and guerrilla forces, and (d) a UN: special
representative, appointed by the Secretary G e neral of the UN to
observe the transitional administration of the Resident
Commissioner and to certify the fairness of the elections 3.
Constitution: Unlike the KSP, the AAP proposes a detailed
constitution to be adopted by Rhodesia. Precisely who is to d r aft
it or vote on it is not made clear, and the Plan notes that "It is
impossible at this stage to lay down an exact timetable The AAP's
constitution calls for a president as head of state and a
presidentally appointed cabinet. The president will be elect e d by
the endorsement of at least half the successful candidates as
Elected Members of the National Assembly. The ministers of the
cabinet will be drawn from the National Assembly and will be re
sponsible to it. The president will be elected at the same ti me as
the .National Assembly.
The National Assembly will be the legislature of Rhodesia it
will be unicameral and elected by one-man, one vote (adult suffrage
over 21) from single member constituencies. It will be able to
override presidential veto by simp le majority vote and to force
the resignation of the president by a vote of. no con fidence. The
president however, may dissolve the National Assembly at any time
and must do so if he refuses his assent to a bill twice submitted
to him by Parliament. Ther e must be a general election at least
once every five years and a session of the Assembly at least every
year, and no more than six months between sessions.
The National Assembly will consist of two-kinds of members
Elected Members and Specially Elected Members. Elected Members will
be elected by the method described above and they will themselves
elect 1/5 of their number as Specially Elected Members.
The purpose of these extra members is to represent "minority
coinmunities How they will represent them is specifically left to
further discussion, but whatever method is decided upon, it may not
be altered until at least eight years after the adoption of the
constitution Even though the Specially Elected Members are to
represent minority communities, there i s no requirement that they
be members of the minority groups themselves. I 13 i Under the AAP
the constitut-on may de amended by different methods: some clauses
by simple majority vote of the National Assembly; most provisions
by a 2/3 majority vote of a31 members some, pertaining to
citizenship and the Bill of Rights, by a 2/3 majority in two
successive Parliaments; and some, pertaining to the Specially
Elected Members, may not be amended at all until after the
specified period.
C The Internal Settlement ( IS March 3, 1978 Y 1. Transition:
The IS proposes a transition period of'nine months, and the interim
government, which was established soon after the Agreement,
consists of an Executive Council (EC) of all party leaders (Smith,
Muzurewa, Sithole, and Chi r au) with a rotating Chir~nanShip, and
a Ministerial Council (MC) of equal numbers of white and black
ministers nominated by the heads of the negotiating parties. The
EC, making decisions by consensus will supervise the government and
the process of drafti n g the constitution. The chairmanship of the
MC will also be rotating between black and white ministers, and
black and white ministers will have coequal authority over their
departments. The MC will make decisions by majority vote and will
initiate legisla tion.
The Rhodesian Parliament will continue to exist but will meet
only when summoned by the EC and only for specified purposes
necessary to bas-ic government functions and to ratify the consti
tution 2. Safeguards: Unlike the KSP and the AAP the safeguar ds of
r j the IS are purely internal. These consist of the entrenched
clauses of the constitution, the justiciable Bill of Rights, and
tile independent judiciary and civil service 3. Constitution: The
proposed constitution calls for "major ity rule on the basis of
universal adult LEver 187 suffrage."
It establishes a Legislative Assembly of 100 meders, with 72
black members and 28 reserved seats for white members. A decla
ration of rights, an independent judiciary and civil service, and
continuity of pensi on rights and dual citizenship are all
guaranteed 78 members, though on all other matters the legislative
assembly will vote by simple majority rule An important and
controversial part of the IS constitution is the arrangement for
election of the members of the Assembly.
There will be, for the specified period, two voting rolls, the
common roll and the preferential roll. All black and white voters
will be on the common roll and only whites will be on the
preferential roll. The common roll will elect the 72 black members
of the assembly and the preferential roll will elect 20 of the 28
white members. The camon roll will also elect the other 8 white
members from a list of 16 candidates nominated (for These
provisions can be amended only by a vote of 14 the f i rst
election) by the white members of the existing Parliament and, for
later elections,'by the 28 white members of the existing At the end
of a specified period of ten years or two parlia ments,
whichever'is longer, a specially appointed commission will r e view
these arrangements and, on its recommendations, they will be
altered. An amendment altering these'arrangements may be passed by
only 51 percent of the Legislative Assembly, but if such an al
teration is enacted, the 72 seats formerly reserved for bla c ks
will be open to all, regardless of color, and the 28 white members
will be prohibited from forming a coalition government with another
minority party Legislative Assembly COMPARISON OF THE PLANS The
Internal Settlement may be described in some ways as a compromise
between the Kissinger-Smith Plan and the Anglo-American Plan. The
IS and the KSP have similar provisions for the transi tional
government, but the constitution proposed by the IS re sembles that
of the AAP much more than the vague provisions o f the KSP. Unlike
either plan, however, the IS contains no assur ances of an
international fund as an additional safeguard is now virtually
defunct, since it has been replaced by the AAB with the support of
the US and the UK,and by the IS, with the sup por t of the
Salishury government and the chief leaders of the moderate
nationalists of Rhodesia The 'KSP DISCUSSION OF THE ANGLO-AMERICAN
PLAN The primary benefit of the AAP is that it'offers a fairly pre
cise structure of the government and of the constituti on. However
it has been criticized by both black and white leaders in
Rhodesia.
First, it gi.ves dictatorial power to the Resident Commissioner
dur ing the transition. There is no assurance that the Commissioner
would allow any significant input of any par ticular group into
either the administration or the constitution. The fact that the
British government demands the surrender of the "illegal" Smith
government indicates that the latter would not have an official
vo.ice during the transition. Dr. Chester A . Crocker, Director of
African Studies at the Georgetown Center for Strategic and Inter
national Studies, has written in a recent study of the AAP that it
is "doomed to fail" because it tries to do too much.
The presumed goal of the current Anglo-American plan is not just
to stop the fighting but also to pre-empt an eventual victory by
revolutionary guerillas that would overturn completely the existing
polit,ical, administra tive, economic, and security apparatus.7 7.
Quoted in Intelligence Digest, April 1 , 1978 p 5 i 1 15 Despite
the precision of the AAP on the powers of the Commis sioner and the
nature of the constitution, it is vague on the pro cess of
dra-fting &e-constitution and the ratification process.
The constitution itself, which differs radicall y from previous
Rhodesian constitutions, has already been drafted in large part and
is apparently simply to be imposed on Rhodesia by the British
government. Only the most routine matters are left to further ne
gotiation among the Rhodesian parties. The S m ith government also
objected to the inadequacy of the safeguards for the white minority
in the AAP. The whites have no assured representation in Parlia
ment at all, and, except for the verbal assurances of a Bill of
Rights and the dubious goodwill of a fo r eign UN representative
have no safeguards at all voters will have in' electing the
regularly elected members of the Assembly, they will have no role
at all in the election of the president under the AAP. Nor does the
AAP constitution give any details as t o how the Specially Elected
Members will be chosen except that again the whites will have only
an indirect role) or how they will represent the minorities when
they themselves need not be members of the minorities. There are no
"blocking mecha nisms" where by the minority can diffuse the will
of the majority.
The radical majoritarianism and authoritarianism of the proposed
constitution and the transition contrast sharply with three hun ed
years .of Anglo-American political tradition Except for the
indirect role all white DISCUSSION OF THE INTERNAL SETTLEMENT: F
OREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT The Internal Settlement itself
has come under fire from critics including not only the Patriotic
Front, but also the British and US governments. The primary
objection to it within the US comes from a Staff report of the S
enate Foreign Relations Committee.
This report, cited by Congressional proponents of continuing en
forcement of sanctions, argues that the IS does not really allow
for majority rule but only continues white minority control. The J
report A Rhodesian Settle ment?" June, 1978) states that the IS
offers a formula for at least 10 years of qualified multi racial
rule in which there would exist a black majority in parliament, but
a central white power block with the ability to prevent fundamental
change altering t he poli tical and economic structure of the
Rhodesian society Quoted by Sen. McGOvern, Congressional Record,
June 28 1978 p. S9983; Report, p. 8 The objection, then, to the
Internal Settlement seems not to be that if does not provide for
black majority ru l e but that it gives the white minority too much
power. What many critics of the IS seem to want is not simply a
representative government in Rhodesia 4 c 7 I I I J- c r A '5 16
'c: b that would reflect the needs of all citizens, but a gover
ment able to e ffect "fundamental change," a transformation of
Rhodesian society.
The Senate Report also raises objections to the entrenched
safeguards in the IS on the grounds that these effectively prevent
majority rule. It points to the structure of the transitional g
overnment as ambiguous and potentially unstable. However, the
Report fails to point out that similar, but weaker safeguards were
present in the AAP as well as in the constitution of Kenya, Tan
zania, and Zambia when those states became independent. It mis
takenly states that the Executive Council has a one-man veto, when
in fact the IS specifically states that the Executive Council oper
ates by consensus. It is also mistaken in stating that the Rho-
desian Parliament as it now exists will be able to "enact any legis
lation or deal with any other matter brought forward by the transi
tional government," when it is specifically stated in the IS that
the existing Parliament "will meet...as and when the executive
council considers it should be summoned" and has no initiative in
legislation other than what the four-man executive council allows
it.
Throughout the Report there is an underlying assumption that the
white and black signatories of the IS are really at daggers drawn
and are both eager to weasel out of th e agreement or to be tray
their colleagues. The Report seems to be at pains to dis cover
hypothetical difficulties that might face the transitional
government. Although published in June--three months after the
signing of the IS--it makes no attempt to sh o w that the "what if
situationsdescribed are either likely in practice or that they have
in fact occurred. Such critical passages of the transitional
government as the dismissal of Minister Hove or the shooting inci
dents involving the curfew breakers migh t have been discussed to
observe how the transitiona1.government actually works, what its
real problems have been,and.how they have been resolved, but there
is no mention of these affairs. Although the signatories of the IS
have had their difficulties and problems, they have thus far been
able to surmount them peacefully and legally, and there is simply
no evidence to show that they are the victims of insurrnount able
problems or tensions DISCUSSION OF THE INTERNAL SETTLEMENT: IS IT
MAJORITY RULE?
The "entr enched safeguards" proposed in the Internal Settle
ment for the new Rhodesian constitution--which are intended to pro
tect the rights and achievements of the white minority against the
encroachments of the majority--are by no means new or unique in the
co n stitutional development -of modern Africa. Other African
states--specifically Kenya, Tanzania (Tanganyika and Zambia--had
similar arrangements when they achieved independence C 1 17 In the
Kenyan Consti.tukionof 1963, Chapter 111, Part I, sec tion 28 prov
i ded for 'Specially Elected Members" of the House of
Representatives. By section 30 (1) and (2) 8 it was provided that
The number of Specially Elected Members of the,House of
Representatives shall be the number which results from dividing the
number of sea t s of Elected Members of that House by ten or, if
that result is not a whole number the whole number next greater
than that result and The Specially Elected Members...shall be
elected by the Elected Members of that House. in accordance with
the provisions of Schedule 3 of this Constitution.
In the Constitution of Tanganyika (Tanzania) of 1961, Chapter
III Part I, section 15, establishes. "elected members" and, Iruntil
Parliament otherwise provides, nominated members Section 16 states
The nominated members o f the National Assembly shall con sist of
such members (whose number shall not exceed ten as may be appointed
by the Governor-General, acting in accordance with the advice of
the Prime Minister, from among persons who are qualified for
elections as member s of the National Assembly.
In the Zambian Independence Order of 1964, as in the proposed
constitution of Rhodesia, separate voting rolls were established
for the interim government he separate rolls were called the main
rolls" and the "reserved rolls," an d by section 9, para graph (e),
a person registering to vote shall if he is an Afxican, be
registered as a main roll voter if he is a European, be registered
as.a reserved roll voter In the Zambian Constitution of 1964,
Chapter V, Part I, sec tion 60, sta t es that The President may
appoint as nominated members of the National Assembly such persons,
not exceeding five in number, as he considers desirable in,the
public interest in order to enhance the representative character of
the Assembly or to obtain the s ervice as a member of the Assembly
of any person who, by reason of his special qualifications, would
be of special value as such a member 18 Thus, three of the leading
African states at the beginning of their national history. had
constitutional arrangeme n ts designed to protect the rights of
minorities, give them special protection againt the will of the
majority, and avail themselves of the special skills and
achievements of these minorities. It should also be noted that in
the Kenyan and Tanganyikan (Tan z anian) Con stitutions, 1i.teracy
requirements in English were specified as necessary qualifications
for membership in.the legislative bodies Kenyan Constitution,
Chapter 1.11, Part 'I, section 31 (b Tangan yikan Constitution,
Chapter 111, Part I, section 1 8(c). The language of these
provisions in the two constitutions was virtually identical
legislative bodies who were only those were to be elected to
membership in the able to speak and, unless incapacitated by
blindness or other physical cause, to read th e English language
well enough to take an active part in the proceedings of the.
National Assembly. (Kenyan. Constitution, loc. cit Thus, while
there were no specifically racial reservations in these
Constitutions, reservations on the basis of English lite racy re
stricted to a large extent the number of blacks who could stand for
election but did not apply to the much better educated white
minority sent in the.proposed constitution of the Internal
Settlement or in the transitional government tions were wea k er
than those of the Internal Settlement, they were perhaps not strong
enough to ensure a.transition to independent democracy. As The
Statesman's Year-Book 1977/1978, notes It is to be noted that such
literacy tests are not pre While the safeguards for mi n orities in
these earlier constitu On 10 Nov. 1964 /less than one year after
indepen dence on Dec 12,-19637 Kenya became a one-party state I (p.
409 The country Tanzania7 is a one-party state p. 504 On 13 Dec.
1972 President Kaunda /of Zambia7 signed a new Constitution based
on one-paFty rule p. 531 In any case, it is evident that the IS
does provide for major ity rule in that (a) Article A of the
Settlement states that "a constitution will be drafted and enacted
which will provide for majority rule on the. basis of
universa1,adult suffrage b) the franchise, previously restricted to
about 2 percent of the popula tion, will be extended to all adults
over the age of 18; (c) the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral body
of 100 with full legisla tive authority, wi l l have a majority of
blacks (72 percent) for at least ten years and will conduct almost
all legislative business by majority v0t.e d t-he only restrictions
on majority rule are A SA e i c r; F y a r c 1.9 within the
Legisla-ive Assembly and pertain o the p rocedures for amending the
constitution and to the entrenched safeguards. These restrictions
consist of 1) the reservation of 28 percent of the seats to the
whites for at least ten years and (2) the stipulation that
amendments to the constitution be appro v ed by at least 78 per
cent of the members. The amendment process proposed here may be
compared to that of the US Constitution, in which a two-thirds
majority of both chambers must approve an amendment and
three-fourths of the state legisltures must ratify it. Given that
the legisla ture of Rhodesia is to be unicameral and that there are
no states whose assent is necessary, the proposed amendment process
in the IS may well be more democratic than that of the US
Constitution.
If a situation developed in the future in which a proposed
amendment obtained the support of 72 black members, only 6 of the
28 white members would be necessary to ratify it. Black
representatives of the transition-government have stated that they
do not antici- pate unanimous or intran s igent voting by the white
members and that they expect at least one-third of the white
members to vote with the black members In regard to the charge that
the Internal Settlement does not allow for "fundamental change," as
the Staff Report states, it can b e said that it is not appropriate
for Rhodesia at the present time to consider this kind of
fundamental change. .Changes that would affect what the Report
calls "the essential institutions the ownership of land, and
control of the judiciary, civil service policeand military--would
go far beyond the scope of institution alizing majority rule in any
conventional sense The white minority of Rhodesia, comprising the
bulk of middle class technical and managerial workers, is concerned
already over the prospect o f black majority rule. In 1977, prior
to the Inter nal Settlement, there was an exodus of 900 whites per
month. In the early months of 1978, however, as the prospects for a
peace ful transition to majority rule with adequate safeguards
opened through the I n ternal Settlement, white migration fell to
only 500 per month, despite the escalation of the war. The
agreement of Smith,in other words,reassured the whites and has
Played an im portant role in preventing a mass exodus of
professionally skilled Rhodesians It is of the highest importance
that a post-transition Rho desia retain a strong white minority
committed to the government.
Sen. Dick Clark (D-Iowa) has called attention to the fact that
of all of Britain's former colonies in Africa, Southern Rhodesia pr
obably could have sustained parliamentary democracy better than
most African countries because it had a burgeoning middle class, 'a
good infrastructure,r r 20 a large educa.ted population, good
economic resources, and a-multiracial society Congressional R e
cord, March 15 1977, p. S4210 Both Ambassador Young and Joshua
Nkomo have denied that they want the white population to leave or
suffer. However, the exodus of the whites would resume, with
disastrous consequences for the political and economic future of
Rhodesia, if they feel that there are inadequate safeguards for
their own future. In 1975 Rhodesian whites paid 98.9 percent of the
income taxes of the Rhodesian govenment and were responsible for
75.6 percent of Rhodesian. agricultural production in 19
74 . Dr. Chester A. Crocker whose study of the -'was cited
above, has written that the whites in Rhodesia are not only a
privileged minority--they are also pivotal to the nation's economy.
Wages and salaries paid to whites account for nearly 60% of the
total earnings of the Rhodesian labour force: individual earnings
of whites, when combined with corporate profits of largely
white-owned firms, account for about 70% of gross na tional income.
Roughly 50% of African wage earners are employed on.white farms or
i n white households. If Africans are understandably ambivalent
about the future of the whites, they have reasons of their own for
wish- ing them to remain 8 A mass exodus of the whites would
literally destroy Rhodesia, and the black moderates know this. Tha
t is.why they agreed to the safeguards: they do not want to see
Rhodesia become another Mozam bique, Angola, or Zaire US POLICY
TOWARD RHODESIA: RATIONALE AND ALTERNATIVES i Y The policy of the
Carter Administration, in concert with the Callaghan governmen t of
Great Britain, toward Rhodesia is to en force theUN sanctions, to
continue to regard the Salisbury govern ment as illegal, and to
insist on the Anglo-American Plan as the only basis for further
discussion. The support for the AAP is based on two belie f s.
First, the Administration argues that be cause the Patriotic Front
will'not support the Internal 'Settlement that Settlement does not
represent all the forces and parties of Rhodesia and hence cannot
be an adequate basis for a peaceful transition to ma j ority rule
Secondly, the Administration argues 8. Quoted in Intelligence
Digest, April 1, 1978 s e 2.1 that US support for the Internal
Settlement would push the Patriotic Front further into the hands of
the Communists and thus escalate the possibility of direct
intervention by the Soviets and Cubans in Rhodesia. The
Administration also notes that no other African government has thus
far supported the Internal Settlement and that US support of it
would alienate these other African states.
Nevertheless, the Administration's policy has provoked serious
controversy and criticism. The critics have been dismayed to find
the US government in effect on the same side as the terrorists and
one-party states of Africa and aligned against an agreement arrived
at peace f ully by moderate nationalists within Rhodesia argue that
the PF cannot conceivably claim to represent even a sig nificant
minority, let alone a majority, of Rhodesians, black or white, and
that the PF has repeatedly disavowed a commitment to peace or majo
r ity rule anyway. They also argue that the US and British
enforcement of sanctions against Rhodesia and their de facto
support of the guerrillas only give assistance to the Patriotic
Front and discourage and hamper the transitional government in its
war ag a inst the guerrillas- Finally, they point out that the Pa
triotic Front is already deeply involved with the Communist powers
and that if it came to power in Rhodesia in the future, these ex
ternal powers would already have allies within the country and the
government, that the inclusion of the Patriotic Front in the Rho
desian government would open the door to further war and terrorist
atrocities and to eventual domination by anti-democratic forces
whether Communist or not.
As an alternative to present poli cy, the critics have pro posed
to lift sanctions onRhodesia inorder to give the transitional
government an opportunity to implement its commitments. This policy
would encourage the transition by (1) giving moral support to the
Internal Settlement, (2) pro m ote the pacification of the country
side by allowing the moderate nationalists to point to a measure of
international support and to persuade guerrillas in the bush to
take advantage of the amnesty, (3) encourage'the recognition and
support of the Interna l Settlement by other African states, and 4)
give needed resources to Rhodesia through trade The critics On June
28, 1978, the Senate voted on the Helms Amendment to the Foreign
Assistance Act, which would have prevented the enforce ment of the
sanctions o n. Rhodesia until December 31, 19
78. A motion to table th-amendment prevailed by a narrow six
vote mar gin (48-42 This led to adoption one month later of an
amendment to the International Security Assistance Act offered by
Senator Clifford Case, which proposed a compromise between the po l
icies of Senator Jesse Helms and the Administration. The Case
Amendment which was passed in the Senate on July 26, 1978 by a vote
of 57 39, proposed that authority be given to the President to lift
sanctions if the Rhodesian sovernment makes a-"aood faith "
commitment 22 to r ?gotiate with all parties at a conference under
international auspices and if a freely elected government comes to
power in Rhodesia through free elections observed by
internationally recog nized observers.
Critics of the Case Amendmen t argued that the President already
has authority to lift sanctions under section 2 of the law
repealing the Byrd Amendment in 1977 and, further, that the
conditions it established were not meaningful. The Amendment does
not make clear how the President i s to determine or evaluate the
actions of the transitional government It does not seem to
recognize that the transitional government desires a peaceful
settlement and free elections, that it has repeatedly sought to
negotiate with the Patriotic Front, and that it would be in its
interest to negotiate further if negotiations did not mean the
reversal of the progress toward majority rule that has already been
made.
Proponents of the Case Amendment argued that its passage would
correct the present policy of th e Administration while still
preserving the even-handedness of the United States. As Senator
Jacob Javits, a cosponsor of the Case Amendment, stated From the
declarations of the various officials of our toward the guerrillas
I would not sponsor this amend ment unless I were confident--and I
am--that this tilt is corrected by the amendment and that the
United States Government including Andrew Young I felt, a "tilt is
truly put in the position to be the honest mediator the honest
broker Consressional Record , July 26 1978, p. S11792).
On August 2, 1978, the House of Representatives debated amend
ments to the International Security Assistance Authorization Bill
which would have further modified the Administration policy.
While Congressman Zablocki introduced an amendment identical to
the Case Amendment, and Congressmen Bauman and Findley sponsored
even stronger amendments, Congressman Ichord proposed a compromise
amendment. The Ichord Amendment, passed by a substantial 229 to 180
margin, authorized the liftin g of sanctions after December 31,
1978 unless the President shall determine that a government has not
been installed, chosen by free elections in which all political
groups have been allowed to participate freely." Though similar to
the Case Amendment, the Ichord Amendment differs from it in impor
tant details. While Case's measure places the burden of proof on
the Rhodesians by requiring them to show that free elections have
occurred, the Ichord measure places the burden on the President by
requiring him t o determine that they have not occurred. Further
more, unlike the Case Amendment, the Ichord Amendment contains no
insistence on further "good faith" efforts to negotiate with the
Patriotic Front, but instead only that "all political groups have
been allow e d to participate freely" in the elections. The final
language of these amendments will have to be worked out by the
House and Senate conferees 23 The House debate on the sanctions
reveals several key assump tions among those who opposed lifting
them. Firs t , the advocates of sanctions tend to.assume that the
enforcement of sanctions was responsible for the progress towards
majority rule thus far. Thus Mrs. Burke of California stated: the
U.N. observed sanctions...were probably the '15 greatest force for
cha nge from minority rule. (p. H7727 However, sanctions from 1967
to 1971 did little to promote com promise on the part of Smith,and.
he agreed to negotiate with Secretary Kissinger while-the U.S. was
not enforcing sanctions.
Ironically, other advocates of sa nctions argue that while they
have been responsible for the progress toward majority rule to
date, there has not really been any such progress. Thus, Mr. Steers
of Maryland argued Presently under the internal settlement, there
has been no change in the wh i te-dominated police, army, or
judiciary as well as no major change in discriminatory statutes p.
H7719 And a similar statement was made by Mr. Solarz of New York.
(p.H7724 This argument however is similar to that of the Senate
Report cited and discussed a b ove, which advocates fundamental
transformations of Rhodesian society rather than conventional
majority rule. It also ignores the fact that continuity of the
judiciary and civil service is guaranteed in the AAP, the currently
approved alternative to the I S, that 68 percent of the Rhodesian
amy and the predominance of the police forces are black, and that,
unlike the KSP, the coministers of the Interior and Defense are
black.
Finally, other advocates of sanctions seem to assume (again like
the Senate Report ) that only the international pressure of
sanctions from the US keeps the Smith government from reneging on
the IS. Thus Mr. Bonker of Washington stated: r The sanctions have
forced the Smith regime to recognize the hard realities of
establishing a minori t y government in a majority society. If we
were to lift those-sanctions now, we would certainly disrupt that
process. (p. H7725 Again,this argument assumes that the Smith
government (or regime if that term is preferred) is not sincere in
its commitments an d that it ha& been the sanctions that have
forced it to compromise.
This ignores the history of the negotiations, the role of the
black moderates, the importance of the "liberation movements" in
formerly Portuguese Africa, and the clear self-interest of th e
Smith government in achieving a workable settlement of majority
rule.
I While the UN sanctions have not had a critical impact upon the
Rhodesian economy--indeed they have even helped Rhodesia to become
self-sufficient agriculturally--their long-term eff ect has been to
undermine certain key sectors of the economy. They have been
particularly harmful in regard to black employment and to the
importation of consumer goods. However, the principal argu ment for
repealing the sanctions at the present time is n o t eco nomic or
related to the military needs of the government. It is proposed to
repeal the sanctions only until December 31, 1978 and that short
time-range would probably not affect the perform ance of the
economy. The principal argument (one that is es p oused by Bishop
Muzorewa himself, who has previously been a strong ad vocate of
sanctions against the Smith government) is that repeal by the US
would give the black leaders of the Internal Settlement much
greater credibility with the guerrilla forces. Mu z orewa and his
colleagues point out that in many cases Mugabe and Nkomo have only
token control of the guerrilla forces, that these forces are often
acting independently, and could be persuaded to lay down their arms
if they believed that foreign powers wo u ld assist the leaders to
make the transition, and would stop giving their sup port to the
guerrilla forces and leaders. Furthermore US repeal of the
sanctions would encourage other African states to endorse the
Internal Settlement. The Organization of Afr i can Unity, for
example, though it has not supported the IS, has rebuffed the
Patriotic Front at its meeting in Khartoum in July, 1978, where it
passed a resolution that the people of Rhodesia have "the right to
choose their own leaders" and refused to acc e pt the Front's
demands that it receive recognition as "the sole represent r ative
of the people of Zimbabwe CONCLUSION The transition of Rhodesia
from a government by a racial min ority with dubious legality to
one by a majority with full status in the in ternational community
is a delicate and complicated one.
Democracy has not enjoyed appreciable success in Africa since
the decolonization movement in the 1960's, and its failures have
ranged from the regimes of terror in Uganda and Ethiopia to simple
one p arty dictatorships in most other states. Although Rhodesia
has not had a democratic government in the Western sense it has had
at least a stable, regular, and prosperous government that has been
more respectful of human rights than its neighbors. Rhodesia now
has the opportunity to create a democratic system that could serve
as a model for other African states, whether they are the black
one-party states or the white oligarchy in South Africa, and it has
indeed come far in designing arrangements acceptable to the most
influential parties of the country. Rhodesia has come this 1 25 far
without the help of outside states or the compulsion of ex ternal
force or internal revolution and often with the opposition. f
external powers. Whether its experiment can be successful in Y the
-3 future will now depend less on its own efforts than on the good
will and cooperation of its neighbors and its friends in the wor
Id.
Samuel T. Francis Policy Analyst