We want one-party Zimbabwe — Front

Press, 17 April 1978, Page 8

We want one-party Zimbabwe — Front

NZPA-Reuter Dar-es-Salaam | | Rhodesian guerrilla leadjers have rejected AngloI American proposals for a : peace settlement in their country and demanded establishment of a single-party Marxist State. .Rejection of the peace plan came after two days of] talks in Dar-es-Salaam be-1 tween the guerrilla chiefs, 1 Robert Mugabe and Joshua] Nkomo, co-leaders of the Pa-1 triotic Front Alliance, and the American Secretary of; State (Mr Cyrus Vance) and: the British Foreign Secretary] (Dr David Owen). Mr Mugabe, questioned at] a 2 a.m. news conference in] the Tanzanian capital, said] that the Patriotic Front had] not shifted from the hard-] line position it adopted after I it was created some 18] months ago. “We believe the multi-i party system is a luxury in' a State which should concentrate on policies to help society,” he said. He said the front aimed to create a one-party Marxist State in Rhodesia (called Zimbabwe by the guerrillas) after it achieved blackmajority rule. Mr Mugabe, whose guerrilla armies are mainly

based in Mozambique, said he believed, that the United States was more serious about decolonising Rhodesia than Britain, about whose motives he remained sceptical. During the two days - of talks, Mr Mugabe and Mr Nkomo indicated their willingness to attend a proposed al I-party conference on the future of Rhodesia. The conference would include the white Prime Minister (Mr lan Smith) and the three black moderate leaders who reached an internal settlement with him earlier this year, and who have already rejected the conference. The guerrilla chiefs demanded an important role in the lead-up to black rule and the disbanding of the present Rhodesian police force which numbers 8000 regular members and 35,000 reservists. “The Patriotic Front must have a predominant role. The Army must be ours,” Mr Mugabe told reporters. The Front’s rejection of key issues in the AngloAmerican plan was indicated in the final communique and the two sides issued after the talks. The communique said that the United States and Brit-

,ain regarded the Patriotic ; Front proposals as fundlamental changes to the plan I which would have to be ! negotiated. ] Although American and ( British officials said they ; were disappointed with the .■results of the talks, Mr i Vance, who will go on with Dr Owen to Johannesburg and then to Salisbury for further talks on Rhodesia, | said he thought some progress had been made. “There was broad agreement in certain areas and differences in others,” Mr Vance said. “There are some fundamental differences. We are going to see that there is an all-party conference. That is (why we are going on the Inext stops on the trip.” Mr Mugabe however j warned that the six-year i guerrilla war in Rhodesia I depended on Britain. ] Asked about the implications of the Front rejection ;of the proposals in the next few months, he replied:] “That will depend on what! David Owen decides to do.” I “If he . . . moves away; ; from the Anglo-American ] proposals in the direction of] the internal settlement then, of course, we will meet him on the battlefield.”