Stormiest week likely in Zimbabwe peace talks

Press, 27 November 1979, Page 8

Stormiest week likely in Zimbabwe peace talks

NZPA-Reuter London The Patriotic Front guerrilla chiefs, Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, primed by week-end talks with African leaders, will today return to the conference table for what may be the stormiest and most critical week of the Zimbabwe Rhodesia, peace talks. They have already set the scene for a first clash by stating that they will not' meet the deadline set by Britain, for agreement on a cease-fire in the seven-year bush war. The way in which the re-

fusal is handled by the British Foreign Secretary (Lord Carrington), chairman of the conference, may be decisive. He set a time limit of today on Thursday in an attempt to speed up the 11-week-old talks, aimed at returning the breakaway British colony to legal independence. It appears that only serious changes will satisfy Mr Mugabe and Mr Nkomo after talks in Tanzania with leaders of Botswana, Mozambique, and Tanzania — three of their principal backers in the guerrilla war against Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s bi-

racial Zimbabwe Rhodesian Government. Agreement has already been reached on the main political issue, a fresh election in which the Patriotic Front, the Bishop’s supporters, and other political parties, including the white minority, will compete for the first time. But the election cannot take place until a cease-fire is agreed. The guerrilla leaders worry that their estimated 15,000 force is being asked to give up strategic positions in the bush and assemble at designated areas, making them prime targets

if they won the election and there were a coup. On the other hand, the Rhodesian security forces, restricted to their barracks, fear the guerrillas will intimidate voters, and want to be near eough to intervene in the event of any violence. Also, a Commonwealth force of several hundred troops, drawn from Australia Fiji, Kenya, New Zealand, and Britain, would under British plans monitor the whole operation to check any ceasefire infringements. The guerrilla leaders say the task can be done effectively only by thousands of Commonwealth troops.