Summit ‘with or without Mr Muldoon’

Press, 19 June 1979, Page 2

Summit ‘with or without Mr Muldoon’

NZPA Lusaka. Zambia The August Com-: monwealth summit confer-1 ence will be held in Lusaka,! “with or without”’ the New Zealand Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) says the “Sunday Times” of Zambia. In its editorial comment,; the newspaper, owned by) President Kenneth Kaunda’sj United National Independence Party, said the summit was so crucial to the very: survival of the Commonwealth that it could not be disrupted by “eccentrics”' even if they happened to be) Prime Ministers of Commonwealth countries. It said Zambia had prepared for the Queen’s visit and concern about her safety while visiting the country “is a load of rubbish really.” “How many heads of State have visited Zambia since the war started in Rhodesia? How many of them have actually visited the Victoria Falls, which divides Zambia from the racists?” it asked. | The truth was that all those who were singing about the Queen's “safety" were actually “scared of the outcome of the summit, because it will not endorse (Zimbabwe Rhodesia’s Prime Minister, Bishop Abel) Muzorewa's regime,” the newspaper said. Mr Muldoon publicly expressed alarm about the

Queen’s trip because the effects of the 6} year war in ■ i Zimbabwe Rhodesia have spilled across the border to I' Zambia. which harbours guerrillas hostile to the Salisbury Government. I The Zambia-based Zim-i I babwe African Peoples’! ;Union, headed by Mr Joshua' (Nkomo, has in the past) j claimed responsibility for! 'shooting down Rhodesian) passenger planes. Mr Nkomo, in alliance! with the Mozambique-based) Mr Robert Mugabe, has 'vowed to overthrow the new (Salisbury Government of [ Bishop Muzorewa, who is 'accused of continuing the , policies of the former white Prime Minister (Mr lan) Smith). j Besides political problems,; Zambia is wrestling with : backlogs of maize, wheat, j ■ fertiliser, and potato seed' ' imports backed up in South Africa because of blocked or i ineffective rail transport in Zambia. Mr Haswell Mwale, acting I Miniater of Power, Transport [ and Communications, said ' Lusaka had asked South; • Africa for six locomotives to; ■ speed up movement of im-l ■ ports through its southern ; route. I Observers have warned; ■ that unless Zambia unclogs, its transport network, famine will become a reality in) : i few weeks.