Blacks reject Carver

Press, 1 November 1977, Page 8

Blacks reject Carver

NZPA-Reuter Dar-es-Salaam

The British commissionerdesignate for Rhodesia, Field-Marshal Lord Carver will start talks with Rhodesian nationalist leaders today fully aware that they do not accept his proposed role in taking the breakaway i colony to black majority rule.

Both Mr Joshua Nkomo and Mr Robert Mugabe said that they did not accept the all-powerful position envisaged under Anglo-American settlement proposals for Lord Carver during the sixmonth interim period leading to free elections in Rhodesia.

The two are joint leaders of the Patriotic Front, the political wing of the two main guerrilla, armies fighting Rhodesia’s bush war.

Both said that the fighting would go on, and Mr Mugabe added: “Our position will not alter until there is some substantial indication that the British are serious in their attempts to bring ;about change.” Lord Carver will hold the first round of the two-day talks in the residence of the British High Commissioner Ito Tanzania (Mr Mervyn ! Brown). Also present will be General Prem Chand, of India, the newly appointed United Nations representative for Rhodesia, who arrived in Dar-es-Salaam, from Lusaka at the week-end. Under the latest Anglo-American proposals to transfer power peacefully to Rhodesia’s blacks, Lord Carver would be backed by a United Nations peace-keeping force during the transitional period. Later in the week the two men will visit Salisbury and Lusaka to continue the talks, which British spokesmen say will concentrate on the military side of the AngloAmerican plan.