‘Whole Gangs Of Africans Shot’

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31150, 29 August 1966, Page 11

‘Whole Gangs Of Africans Shot’

(N Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright)

SALISBURY, August 28.

Rhodesia’s Internal Affairs Minister, Mr William Harper, has claimed that nearly all terrorists who had entered Rhodesia had been captured and that security forces had shot whole gangs when they resisted arrest.

The Minister was speaking during an interview which was later broadcast by the Rhodesion Broadcasting Corporation’s African service.

Asked what reception Rhodesian Africans who had left the country would receive if they returned, Mr Harper said: “If these people are terrorists, their chances of being rounded up are extremely high. “We have captured pretty nearly all the terrorists who have come to this country. I want to make this point—that we have shot whole gangs of these terrorists, not one surviving when they resisted arrest.”

The Minister warned; “These people ought to know that, when they resist arrest this is the sort of treatment they are going to receive from the armed forces of this country.”

Referring to Rhodesia’s sec-

urity position, Mr Harper said there was no suggestion of a general breakdown in law and order.

He warned that people who organised the terrorists should not think they could work against Rhodesia while they lived beyond its borders and then be welcomed back with open arms.