Rhodesia Govt plans to free detainees

Press, 8 April 1978, Page 6

Rhodesia Govt plans to free detainees

NZPA-Reuter Salisbury Rhodesia’s new racially 7 integrated Government has announced that several hundred black political detainees will be freed as part of the “internal settlement.”

“Release will be phased! and will be subject to essen-l tial security safeguards,” said a statement yesterday from the interim Govern-1 ment’s Executive Council, | which is made up of the | Prime Minister (Mr lan I Smith) and three Rhodesiabased black leaders. But Mr Josiah Chinamano, leader of a black organisation affiliated with the militant, guerrilla-backed Patriotic Front, which has vowed to fight the internal f agreement, said: “We’ve not! heard of any of our people i being released.” The Executive Council: statement said 254 detainees had already been freed. They were initially subject to restrictions on their movements, but “all restrictions! upon them will be withdrawn,” it said. 1 “During the course of the inext week, the necessary

(orders authorising the release of several hundred detainees will be signed and processed,” the statement I said.

“A programme for the re-1 lease of a substantial number of detainees has been drawn up,” it said, without, giving figures. The number of political detainees in Rho-' desia has been author-1 itatively put at about 1000. Detainees are black nationalists jailed without trial I -as suspected security risks.! Some are people jailed by administrative order after being acquitted in court. One of the members of the Executive Council, the Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole, has been in dentention. The release of detainees is one of The many problems to be

tackled by the interim Government before a full transfer of power on December 31.

It was the first task carried out since the internal majority-rule eccord was signed on March 3. On Wednesday, the Executive Council reached agreement on the political make-up of a coalition Cabinet expected to come into being next week. It also announced the formation of a committee charged with drawing up a majority-rule constitution The activit” precedes a showdown with Britain and the United States ove r an Anglo-American plan for a new Rhodesia conference to be attended by all parties to I the dispute, including the Patriotic Front.