Guerrillas to end rift

Press, 14 May 1979, Page 8

Guerrillas to end rift

NZPA-Reuter Nairobi The black nationalist guerrilla leaders, the Sovietarmed Mr Joshua Nkomo and the China-backed Mr Robert Mugabe, have overcome a long-standing rift and decided to unify their effort to bring down Zimbabwe - Rhodesia’s Govment, the official Ethiopian Radio has reported. The broadcast, monitored in Nairobi, said the agreement had been reached after three days of talks in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Mr Nkomo, a capitalist despite his Soviet ties, and the Marxist Mr Mugabe had been split on whether to unite first politically or militarily. Mr Nkomo had wanted political unification first. Under the terms of the agreement, Mr Nkomo’s Z a m b i a-based Zimbabwe People’s Liberation Army, estimated at 15,000 men, and Mr Mugabe’s Mozambique-

based Zimbabwe African Liberation Army, thought to be 24,000 strong, will co-or-dinate military moves through a joint command structure. The two groups have been fighting their guerrilla war for seven years. Both men were reported to have agreed to establish co-ordination and defence committees and to have agreed to adopt a single proposed constitution for gov. erning Rhodesia under their joint leadership. Mr Nkomo heads the Zimbabwe African People’s Union, while Mr Mugabe controls the Zimbabwe African National Union. The two men formed the Patriotic Alliance to topple the white-minority regime of the Prime Minister (Mr lan Smith) and have both condemned recent elections in Rhodesia, which established a Government under Bishop Abel Muzorewa.