International Envoys 'urge S.A. to sever the Rhodesia connection'

Press, 30 August 1977, Page 8

International Envoys 'urge S.A. to sever the Rhodesia connection'

NZPA-Reuter

Pretoria

The two principal negotiators in the BritishAmerican effort to solve the Rhodesian crisis, Dr David Owen and Mr Andrew Young, have met Mr John Vorster. the South African Prime Minister, and are believed to have urged him to halt South African support for Rhodesia’s white-minority Government.

Dr Ower

, the British: Foreign Secretary, and Mr, Young, the outspoken United States Ambassador at the United Nations, are believed to have told Mr Vorster at ! a meeting in Pretoria yester-l day that South Africa risked further isolation if it refused to stop backing Rhodesia. No official communique! has yet been issued about the j meeting, but British sources! said before it that the two. envoys hoped to persuade Mrj Vorster and his Foreign Minister (Mr Pik Botha) to back? tor the sake of Pretoria’s: long-term interests, proposals] for black majority rule in Rhodesia. But there has been no in-l dication so far of the attitude of the white minority Government of South Africa! towards the Western argument that it should ditch its long-standing ally. South Africa plays a key I role in settlement efforts! since it controls Rhodesia’s: economic and military supply lines. 7 he sources said that South Africa would either continue to back the Rhodesian Government or recognise that further support for the Rhodesian Prime Minister (Mr lan Smith) would lead to

greater international isolation, would be backing a losing cause, and might bring international sanctions against South Africa itself. 1 Thus the talks were expected to be crucial to the latest joint British-American initiative. The two negotiators left Lusaka, Zambia, on Sunday after inconclusive talks with the “front-line” States — Zambia. Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana, and Angola — and with Mr Robert Mugabe and Mr Joshua Nkomo, co-leaders of the Patriotic Front nationalist guerrilla alliance. Black African demands include the removal of Mr Smith and the disbanding of his army — ideas Mr Smith has rejected. The British-American proposals are believed to call for the Rhodesian leader’s resignation in favour of a British resident commissioner to run the country! during a six-month transition to independence, and the dismantling of the white-led army. Sources close to the mis-' sion said black African and guerrilla leaders were deeply suspicious of British intentions and had closely crossexamined the negotiators about their proposals.

Agence France-Presse reports from Dar-es-Salaam, capital of Tanzania, that reliable sources said yesterday that the five front-line States had rejected the latest pro-

posals. I The Western negotiators are now facing a deep blacki white gap over rival demands for control of Rhodesia’s armed forces after any agreed cease-fire. Mr Smith and the Patriotic Front both want their forces in this role, and neither has shown any sign of softening its position. Sources close to the Western mission are already hinting that it may, like its predecessors, end inconclusively. The sources say it may have to be followed by a further series of consultations with all parties concerned. The “Sunday Mail” newspaper, Salisbury, has reported that a senior Rhodesian Government official has jsaid: “There is no chance of • our Government’s accepting 'the latest proposals in their present form.” Commenting on talks between Mr Smith and Mr Vorster on Saturday, the official is quoted as indicating that South Africa would back Rhodesia in its rejection Of the proposals.