The Lessons of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia

Commentary The Lessons of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Lord Saint Brides British Government embarked on a series of moves designed to bring Zimbabwe -Rhodesia to independence on terms comparable to those which had been applied earlier to the many other British colonies that have achieved independence since World War 11. This statement may strike some readers as a blinding glimpse of the obvious ; but it is not. For Rhodesia has always differed from other British colonies. It was never governed directly from Britain. From the outset it was largely self-governing, with Britain retaining certain reserve powers, mainly over constitutionalaffairs. When in 1925a separategovernment department, namely the Dominions Office, was set up in London to handle relations with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa (the sovereign and independent Commonwealth countries, or Dominions as they were later defined in the Statute of Westminster), and with Newfoundland (later to be merged with Canada) and the Irish Free State, it was decided that the new Department should also deal with Southern Rhodesia. This arrangement underlined SouthernRhodesia's specialquasi-independent status, as distinct from the non-self-governing British dependent territorieswhose affairs continued to be handled by the Colonial Office. Southern Rhodesia's exceptional status was further marked by the fact that the prime minister of Southern Rhodesia attended all the meetings of Dominion prime ministerethat is to say, he sat in with the leaders of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa-on a personal and as it were, honorary footing until after World War II. Moreover, Southern Rhodesk-like the Dominions, but unlike any other British dependent territory-raised, paid and controlled her own armed forces, and there were never any British forces as such on Rhodesian soil. As will appear, this has been a factor of key importance throughout its short history. Hence it was against a background of protracted earlier quasi-independence that in 1963the Rhodesian Governmentbegan negotiationswith Britain for full independence, based on the 1961 constitution. This document pmvided for gradual African political advance, but meanwhile ensured the Lord Saint Brides is a former diplomat, who during his career, sewed as British High Commissioner in Pakistan, in India, and in Australia. In 1966, as D e p u t y Under Secretary of State dealing with Africnn afiirs at the Commonwealth Office, he accompanied then Prime Minister Harold Wilson to the settlement talks with Ian Smith. As Permanent Under Secretary twoyears bater, he returned with Wilson to a sewnd round of negotiations. 177 International Security I 278 continuance of white minority rule. (The proportion of blacks to whites in Rhodesia at this time was about sixteen to one, and has since increased.) In 1965 the British Government listed five principles on which it would need to be satisfied before contemplating independence for Rhodesia: 1. The principle and intention of majority rule, already enshrined in the 1961 2. There would have to be guarantees against retrospective amendment of 3. There would have to be immediate improvement in the political status of 4. There would have to be progress towards ending racial discrimination; 5. The British Government would need to be satisfied that any basis for independence was acceptable to the people of Rhodesia as a whole. (A sixth principle was added in 1966, namely, that it would be necessary to ensure that regardless of race, there was no oppression of majority by minority, or of minority by majority.) In November 1965,after thebreakdown of the talks between the Rhodesian Government, then headed by Ian Smith, and the British Government, headed by Harold Wilson, the former unilaterally declared Rhodesia independent . The British Government proclaimed this move illegal and announced that Rhodesia was in a state of rebellion against the Crown. It was made clear that force would not be used to bring down the rebel rkgime; given the landlocked situation of Rhodesia and the fact that the country had its own armed forces, with no British ones there, the mounting of a military operationby Britain would have been an exceedingly risky and difficult task. But the decisive reason against any resort to force was that this step would not have been supported by public opinion in Britain. Instead, all commercial and financial...