Word: nkomo
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...contrast, the downing of two civilian Air Rhodesia planes by rebel troops during the guerrilla war that brought black rule to Zimbabwe was nothing but coldblooded. In 1978, foot soldiers of Joshua Nkomo's Patriotic Front Army fired Soviet SA-7 missiles at a Viscount airliner as it flew from Salisbury to Kariba, 175 miles to the northwest. Of the 56 aboard, 38 died in the crash. Then, after injured passengers crawled from the wreckage, the guerrillas arrived and again opened fire, killing ten of the survivors...
Whites in Zimbabwe still have not forgiven Nkomo for his elation over the massacre, nor for the subsequent rebel rocket attack on yet another Viscount in 1979, in which 59 passengers and crew died. His only regret, said Nkomo of that incident, was that the principal target of the attack, Rhodesian Defense Chief Peter Walls, was not aboard the flight...
...members of Mugabe's ruling ZANU party jeered, Nkomo insisted that he had fled the country in March only after troops loyal to Mugabe had ransacked his house and killed his driver. "I ran away from my grave," declared Nkomo. "I did not leave Zimbabwe for a safari in Europe." While Mugabe listened impassively, Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Eddison Zvobgo berated Nkomo for embarrassing the government, and ridiculed as "old hat" letters that Nkomo had sent from London proposing talks to solve Zimbabwe's internal problems. Then, to the surprise of most of the M.P.s present...
...decision assured Nkomo of a continuing, although minor, role in Zimbabwe's politics. Still, the humiliating ordeal emphasized the opposition leader's waning influence. Mugabe and Nkomo had shared leadership of the seven-year guerrilla war that in 1980 ended white rule of the country, then known as Rhodesia. Since that time, however, Mugabe has systematically undermined his former partner's power. Earlier this year, government troops, most of them members of Mugabe's dominant Shona tribe, killed hundreds of Nkomo's Ndebele tribesmen in what was billed as a campaign against dissenters...
...tolerating Nkomo's return, Mugabe may be preparing to carry out plans to replace Zimbabwe's pluralistic system with one-party rule. If he banned Nkomo's party outright, Mugabe would, in effect, remove 20% of the country's population from any role in government. To achieve his goal peacefully, Mugabe may still have to cut a deal with his rival...