Rhodesian planes drop leaflets in Botswana

Press, 22 November 1978, Page 8

Rhodesian planes drop leaflets in Botswana

NZPA-Reuter Salisbury Rhodesian planes have show'ered refugee camps in neighbouring Botswana with leaflets urging black Rhodesians who have fled there to return home, the Rhodesian Government has said. . A statement said the leaflets, dropped on Sunday, explained the implications of the Salisbury agreement last March promising black rule. They included facsimilies lof newspaper headlines reporting Rhodesian raids on Patriotic Front guerrilla bases in Zambia. An estimated 15,000 black Rhodesians are believed to live in three camps in Botswana after fleeing across the border to escape the Rhodesian war or to join guerrilla forces.

Rhodesian security forces claim the camps serve as staging posts for would-be guerrillas who travel on to training bases of Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army in Zambia. “Reports have been received of the difficult conditions under w'hich substantial numbers of Rhodesians are living in refugee camps in Botswana,” the statement said. The Botswana Government said the leaflets included a cut-out “free pass” granting safe conduct in Rhodesia to returning refugees. The statement said the leaflet drop blatantly disregarded Botswana’s territorial integrity. “We hope that this exercise is not a prelude to an unprovoked mass-

1 acre of the refugees ant ! other innocent people ir ’ Botswana,” it said. In Lusaka, the Zambia? . capita], a Canadian-borr woman who disappearec from her farm near Lusaks on November 8 has beer , found dead on her property . the police have said. A police statement sale Miss Muriel Bissell, aged 67 was found two days ago anc her farm manager and thret other suspects had been ar rested. Miss Bissell, a formei missionary worker whe adopted Zambian nationality disappeared during a wav< of anti-white feeling twe weeks ago. However, tin police did not suggest tha guerrillas were responsible for Miss Bissell’s, death.