‘Monitoring’ force in Zimbabwe

Press, 5 December 1979, Page 24

‘Monitoring’ force in Zimbabwe

Whether New Zealand troops eventually form part of a cease-fire monitoring force in Zimbabwe Rhodesia will depend on the outcome of the negotiations in Britain. If the Patriotic Front does not agree to the terms under which elections would be held, a ceasefire will be unlikely and no monitoring force will be needed. The nature of the force is important. It is not a peace-keeping force and its role is to observe whether the terms of the cease-fire are being kept. This is similar to the role that New Zealanders have played in the United Nations Observer Force in the Middle East. A peace-keeping operation in which troops might be expected to be fighting would be an entirely different affair. If the team goes to Zimbabwe Rhodesia, some of the New Zealanders will be stationed on the borders of Zambia and Mozambique. As soon as the negotiations end, such raids as have occurred from Zimbabwe Rhodesia on Zambian territory should cease. The New Zealanders, Australians, Fijians, Kenyans and, perhaps, others will be under the command of General John Acland, of Britain. New Zealand has no diplomatic representation anywhere on the African continent and such dealing as New Zealand has with the Government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia will be through the British. The role is a worth-while one and New Zealand will be there to further no interests other than those of helping Zimbabwe Rhodesia in its transition to the establishment of a government which has been elected fairly. The cease-fire is expected to take effect about two weeks after agreement is reached in Britain. If agreement is not reached, the main body of the troops should not follow the small advance party. When the Patriotic Front objected to having New Zealanders and Australians in the monitoring force, the complaint was largely that there would be

too many white faces in the force. The New Zealand Army, as anyone who has observed it recently is aware, is not a solely white force. Some 30 per cent of those going are Maori. The significance of this fact was not lost on the Patriotic Front. The presence of the New Zealanders—Maori and pakeha—will be something that is remembered long after the need for a monitoring team ends. One of the clearest objects will be to make sure that no New Zealand troops are seen as condoning raids from Zimbabwe Rhodesia into Zambia. Although the role envisaged for the Commonwealth troops is a monitoring one, the assignment is not without danger. The report in “The Press” yesterday from James MacManus of the “Guardian” newspaper outlined clearly some of the dangers. The guerrillas of the Patriotic Front and the Zimbabwe Rhodesia Army are heavily armed and the Army is bound to resent the entry of the guerrillas to the country for the election and a number of leaders have their own militia. Bishop Abel Muzorewa, the Prime Minister, may even be able to use the Zimbabwe Rhodesia Army as his own militia. Added to these forces are those of the South Africans, not in the country officially at all, but whose unofficial presence may be a factor of which all sides have to take account. In theory the guerrillas and the Army should be separated; in theory the Patriotic Front should make its points from the soap-box not from the barrel of guns; in theory the private militias should be kept under the strict control of their leaders or even disbanded. Perhaps none of this will happen and the monitoring force will have to show great diplomacy and restrant to accomplish its prescribed task. Again, in theory, it would be desirable to have non-military observers. In the circumstances likely to prevail, the practical considerations of the job in what may be hostile territory rule out such a preference.