Word: owen
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...Better to jaw-jaw than war-war." So argued British Foreign Secretary David Owen, quoting the Churchillian maxim at the conclusion of the latest Anglo-American mission to southern Africa. The future of Rhodesia was as uncertain as ever last week as U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance completed his quick visit to Dar es Salaam, Pretoria and Salisbury and headed for Moscow. But Vance and his colleagues took comfort in the fact that the negotiating process was still alive. Moreover, the mission may have helped refine the Anglo-American strategy for trying to solve the Rhodesian mess...
...Pretoria, Vance was encouraged that South African Foreign Minister Roelof ("Pik") Botha tacitly urged him to carry on with his efforts for a broader Rhodesian settlement. Then, during five hours of talks in Salisbury, Vance and Owen tried to persuade Smith and his colleagues (sarcastically described by some observers as "the gang of four") that the Rhodesians had nothing to lose by attending a round-table meeting. Vance reportedly argued that the U.N. might be prepared to lift its economic sanctions against Rhodesia, at least partly, if the Salisbury regime would accept a U.N. supervisory force during the transition...
Smith did not flatly reject the notion of an all-parties conference, though he said later that he doubted that his black partners would see any value in such a meeting. U.S. officials were convinced, however, that the Rhodesians had listened carefully to at least two of the Vance-Owen arguments: that an accommodation with the Patriotic Front is necessary to stop the fighting and avert a larger war with Soviet and Cuban involvement; and that some kind of international presence would be desirable during the transition if the outcome of elections is to be globally accepted...
...recognize Smith's settlement if he showed good faith by permitting international supervision of elections, promoting blacks to high officer rank in Rhodesia's armed forces, and appointing blacks to serve along with whites in the country's civil service. Declared British Foreign Secretary David Owen: "I am unrepentant in going for what I believe to be an ideal solution, which is a cease-fire and total involvement of the nationalist leaders. But I am a realist. It may be that that cannot be achieved...
...Owen to a Mombasa barroom, blasts his body "from there to Johannesburg," then goes "wandering through the night...