More Executions Expected

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31627, 13 March 1968, Page 15

More Executions Expected

(N.Z. P. A. -Reuter—Copyright) SALISBURY, March 12. The execution in Salisbury of two more Africans condemned for murders committed before the rebel regime of Mr lan Smith seized independence, has intensified the conflict between Rhodesia and Britain, and virtually destroyed any faint hope there was of renewed negotiations. The British Commonwealth Secretary (Mr George Thomson) said in the House of Commons that yesterday’s hangings, five days after three other Africans had been executed for murder, were “a further demonstration of the breakaway regime’s disregard of the rule of law.” Mr Thomson added: “In the present circumstances there can be no question of resuming contact with the illegal regime.” But there is no suggestion in Salisbury today that “the present circumstances” will

change. For while there is a strong chance that the Rhodesian Government will follow up its reprieves yesterday for nine men condemned to death for crimes other than murder, it seems equally certain that more executions will take place. More than 100 Africans are under sentence of death in Rhodesian prisons. Last week’s executions were the first carried out by Mr Smith’s regime since it seized independence in November, 1965.

Government officials here refuse to comment on Mr Thomson’s remarks in the House of Commons, but the gap between Britain and Rhodesia has obviously widened, perhaps to the point of no return.

It is regarded as significant that the two men hanged yesterday were murderers and not so-called terrorists. They had killed a sub-chief. Four other men due to be hanged yesterday for terrorist petrol-bomb attacks on houses and trains were given a stay of execution while the Government reconsiders their cases. Nairobi Protest

In Nairobi, students demonstrating against the executions tried to storm the British High Commission

today, but were dispersed by the police. A permit to allow the students, from Nairobi’s University College, to demonstrate was issued by the authorities yesterday. It stipulated that the protest should last only one hour. U.N. Reaction At the United Nations in New York, African countries, spurred by yesterday’s hangings, today looked for action from the Security Council to resolve the Rhodesia problem

A private session of African delegates decided to call for an urgent meeting of the Council, and the formalities of presenting a letter to its President (Mr Ousmane Soce Diop, of Senegal) were expected to be completed today. The African delegates made it clear that they intended to raise the whole Rhodesia issue, and not simply concentrate on condemning the white minority regime of Mr Smith for executing five Africans in the last six days. A group of six nations was designated to draw up a strategy plan for the Council session, which, informed sources say, will be held on Thursday or Friday. Although no details of the African plans have been disclosed, it is believed they will press for a toughening of the economic sanctions imposed by the council in December, 1966, at Britain’s request. An indication of the feelings of some African and Asian representatives about Rhodesia was given yesterday by Dr Adnan Pachachi, of Iraq, in the Special Committee on Colonialism. He bluntly declared that economic measures were no answer to the problem. Only the application of force could settle the issue, he said. U Thant today expressed “a sense of shock” at the hangings, which he described as “brutal and repressive, and carried out in spite of decisions taken by various United Nations bodies, an appeal by His Holiness the Pope, and universal condem-

nation of the illegal and savage acts of the Salisbury regime.” The Australian High Commissioner in London (Sir Alexander Downer) and his New Zealand counterpart (Sir Thomas Macdonald) are expected to be called to a meeting of the Commonwealth Sanctions Committee this week to discuss joint reaction to the latest Rhodesian moves. The sanctions committee was set up by the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference nearly two years ago, when Mr Smith declared Rhodesia’s independence. All High Commissioners of Commonwealth countries in London are members of the committee, which advises Britain on what steps should be taken in the economic struggle against the illegal regime.

Australia has supported the sanctions, which aim at cutting off trade between Rhodesia and the rest of the world. The African and Asian group, which form the biggest bloc on the committee, are expected to press at the meeting on Friday for sterner measures.