Word: muzorewas
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...EVENTUALLY, they compromised. Pushed by Lord Carrington, both the Front and Salisbury representatives came to agree on a general agenda last Thursday. Muzorewa made the larger concession, agreeing to consider both constitutional changes and "pre-independence arrangements" at the conference. His decision to discuss the latter seemed to mean a role for the Front. Front forces, for their part, had to compromise too: they agreed to discuss needed modification in a constitition largely handed down from the days of white rule. For a while, it seemed that the London conference might be on the way to achieving...
...then the sky began to fall in. Last weekend, Muzorewa hardened his stand by refusing to discuss "issues which are nonstarters, such as our security forces, our military or our police." He complained that "no country anywhere in the world can accept the dismantling of their security services and the forces that maintain the law." These statements, taped in London and broadcast back in Salisbury, seemed to renege on earlier promises to consider a role for Patriotic Front forces in the transition to independence...
...make matters worse, on Monday Smith stirred dissent within the Salisbury delegation by objecting to 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...
...result of Smith's protest and Muzorewa's about-face, the London conference may have trouble convincing the parties involved to compromise. Some observers say the actions of Salisbury delegation may have foiled the long-term British strategy for the conference. For instance, the The Financial Times has reported that British mediators may be hoping to win acceptance of constitutional changes mainly from the Muzorewa government, in the expectation that Front forces would eventually present unreasonable demands and break up the conference. Then, according to the Times, the Thatcher government in Whitehall could recognize the Salisbury government and refuse...
DESPITE THE LURE of possible British recognition for Zimbabwe, Bishop Muzorewa may have some good reasons for trying to delay or avoid a constitutional settlement. It seems highly unlikely that the London conference could end successfully without acceptance of British proposals for new elections: and yet elections are about the last thing Muzorewa wants to face right now. The electorate, both white and black, is dissatisfied with his failure to bring a speedy end to the war with patriotic Front forces. Since he took office on June 1, more than 2,000 people have been killed fighting. Hundreds more have...