Word: muzorewa
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When they last sat down with British diplomats in Geneva three years ago, the archenemies in Zimbabwe Rhodesia's civil war could not even agree on an agenda. The talks broke off after three stormy weeks. Thus the British officials who had persuaded Prime Minister Bishop Abel Muzorewa and his guerrilla foes from the Patriotic Front to attend a "constitutional conference" in London last week were cheered when the two sides agreed on an outline for the discussions. It had been adopted, an erudite Foreign Office spokesman gleefully announced, nemine contradicente (Latin for without any objection), on only...
...fighters operating inside Zimbabwe Rhodesia, almost double the number of a year ago. Tiring of the stalemate, the guerrillas' backers in the "frontline states" (Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique and Botswana) have prodded Nkomo and Mugabe to be more flexible. Simultaneously British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has been pressuring Muzorewa to accept amendments to the Zimbabwe Rhodesia constitution that would remove some of the privileges accorded the country's 230,000 whites (in a population of 7.2 million) in exchange for a lifting of the 13-year-old economic sanctions...
...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 in his delegation said that the bishop's tantrum was no more than a threat aimed at holding together his divided delegation...
Further, new elections would open up a number of controversies left over from last April. Muzorewa's rival Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole has charged that the elections were rigged, and one-time ally James Chikerema has split from the Bishop's United African Council party to form his own splinter faction. Quarrels about whether tribal loyalties unduly influenced some of Muzorewa's appointments are also certain to arise...
Whatever the obstacles to a settlement, however, there are also national and international pressures for peace. One way for Muzorewa to regain his domestic popularity, for instance, would be to take credit for a reasonable peace settlement. The African front-line states, whose populations, border areas, and economics have been ravaged by the war, would also welcome peace, but politically they have too much at stake to end the war for a shabby settlement. The present Zimbabwe constitution--in which whites control the courts, military, police and civil service, hold enough guaranteed parliamentary seats to block constitutional changes, and receive...