Word: britain
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...extent of guarantees to be offered to the country's whites, who are fleeing at the rate of 1,000 a month. The Patriotic Front put forth a proposed constitution that would not reserve any seats for whites in the 100-member Parliament (they now control 28). Britain's Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington, presented an alternative that would guarantee the whites one-third membership in a toothless Senate and an unspecified number of seats in the lower house-but not enough to block legislation or constitutional amendments. Displeased by both plans, Muzorewa threatened to walk out. But sources...
...matters even Muzorewa had agreed to. He called the retention of constitutional safeguards for the 3 per cent white population of Zimbabwe "absolutely vital." It is just those safeguards, of course, which the front-line states of black Africa (Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia) find objectionable; even Britain, the United States and Muzorewa have conceded that safeguards must be weakened substantially. Many whites from Smith's old Rhodesia Front party also now agree that white safeguards need to be reduced. Smith's comments split the Zimbabwe delegation badly...
...renew economic sanctions against it when they expire in November. If the Front torpedoed the conference, this argument runs, Mrs. Thatcher could explain to her colleagues in the Commonwealth--and the to front line states of Africa--that she had no choice but to recognize Zimbabwe. And if Britain extended recognition, there would be pressure for the United States Congress to follow suit...
...seven million inhabitants of Zimbabwe will by affected by the success or failure of the London conference. Negotiators at the conference, though strained will continue. A possible compromise settlement might include the following elements: some role for the Front forces in the transitional Zimbabwe administration, free elections supervised by Britain or intenational bodies, a new constitution leading to true majority rule and an end to most white constitutional privileges...
...reasserting its historical role as a colonial power in order to assume responsibility for the crisis in Zimbabwe, Britain has attempted to reintroduce the kind of constitutional arrangements which brought independence to many other colonies, notably Sri Lanka and Kenya. While none of these arrangements provided for the kind of white-controlled government found in Rhodesia, some did include minimal safeguards for the white population. In both Tanzania and Zambia, about 1/7 of assembly seats were reserved for whites for a limited time. The task for Britain, and for the delegates to the London conference, is to come up with...