Rumours of rival black armies chill Rhodesia

Press, 29 August 1978, Page 9

Rumours of rival black armies chill Rhodesia

By

MAUREEN JOHNSON,

of the Associated Press• i (through NZPA) Salisbury \ ■ ' II Adding a new Ito the almost universal fear (pervading Rhodesia are ■ ■claims that rival black lead- i lers within the country are ’ building up private armies. i The allegations centre on 'two of the three moderatell ; black leaders joined with the;i white Prime Minister (Mr! lan Smith) in the five-1 < ; month-old transition Admin-;1 istration — the former guer- i rilla chief, the Rev. Ndaba-i; (ningi Sithole, and the Ameri-p can-trained Bishop Abel] Muzorewa. I The reports have not been]; substantiated, but they:

underline the threat that a six-year war started by nat-i ionaiist guerrillas to oust | white-minority rule will be I followed by a bloody civil; conflict between blacks. In a gloomy editorial this week, the important black newspaper, the “Zimbabwe Times,” said the country could be heading for a Leba-non-style free-for-all with each political party running its own army. Black Opposition members of the white-dominated legislature say that youths form 4 Ing the bases of the Sithole and Muzorewa armies are ibilletted in barracks at ■ seven sites, several on the outskirts of the capital and (others in north-east and 'south-east Rhodesia.

It is, however, unclear; ■ whether there are — at least ! I at present — any groups! (which could be classified as; ■private armies, as opposed; to probably largely unarmed! youth-wing members and a I relatively small number of Communist-trained nationalist guerrillas who have heeded the transition Administration’s May 2 cease-fire call. The history of Rhodesia’s fractured black nationalist movement has been dotted with street clashes between rival groups, all sides blaming the others for intimidation. One specific address, sups plied to the Associated Press as a Sithole barracks, is a ramshackle house in the predominantly coloured, or mixed-race, Ardbennie suburb of Salisbury. The residents are sensitive] about callers. As this corres-! pondent and a photographer; approached by car, about) nine young blacks in civilian) clothes who were clustered I round a cooking fire outside; the house shouted abuse.: ■ Several rushed to the fence.] ] fists shaking, and ordered I the visitors away. Spokesman for Bishop: ■Muzorewa and Mr Sithole.l along with the white co-: (Minister of Defence (Mr; Roger Hawkins) deny that I (there are private armies. The black parties have: mad? no comment on the] (barracks, including Ardbennie, cited by legislators. Among the most adamant I that internal leaders are building up their own forces j is Josiah Chinamano. top (aide in Salisbury of the (Zambia-based guerrilla leadI er, Joshua Nkomo. He (declares that it spells chaos. Many observers, however, (see a greater potential for I civil conflict between the ■ forces of Mr Nkomo. whose power base is the minority iMatabele tribe, and those of the Mozambique-based Robert Mugabe. Mr Nkomo and Mr Mu-; igabe. linked in the loose political alliance, the Patriotic Front, at present have; an estimated 7800 fighters fighting in Rhodesia. There are up to 20,000 more outside Mr Nkomos: ! men mainly in Zambia and (Mr Mugabe’s in Mozambique. It was the guerrilla war, 1

combined with 12 years of international sanctions and the Portuguese withdrawal from Mozambique, which forced Mr Smith to settle for black rule.

The guerrillas’ brief now is to topple the transition Administration or any black Government succeeding it under the internal settlement rejected by Mr Nkomo and Mr Mugabe. Many, however, see the sharp build-up in Mr Nkomo’s forces over the past two years partly as a preparation for the possibility of taking on Mr Mugabe in the future. Mr Chinamano joined reports of private armies this week when he dismissed as a set-up a Muzorewa political rally in the Msana tribal reservation. Msana, the reports said, is (policed by some 210 guerrillas complete with their ' Communist - supplied (Weapons, who have accepted ithe cease-fire call. “It is,” said Mr Chinamano, “common, knowledge among blacks that pro-Gov-lernment guerrillas are locally-recruited youth supporters of Muzorewa and ; Sithole formed into private armies. “It spells anarchy and a free-for-all ... It means ■ anybody can form his own army fez intimidating oppo- . nents and forcing them to ■ his will, as well as for pres- ' tige.” The “Zimbabwe Times” took an equally-dim view of Msana. “If the Msana guerrillas back Muzorewa, would Sithole, not to be outdone, shortly produce a set of his own guerrilla supporters?” the paper asked. “If this is the pattern of things to come, then a hideous military situation is in the offing in this country,” the naper said. “We may be heading, unwittingly, for a situation where, as in Leba- ■ non. each political party has (its own private army.” ' Some 11,000 people, more ■ than one-third of them civilians. have died in the linelup between the white-led but mainly black Rhodesian ■ regular military and the two guerrilla forces. Even without new groups (reaching for guns, the poteni tial for continuing violence jin this country appears 'enormous.