Mugabe appoints former arch-foe as military chief

Press, 17 April 1980, Page 9

Mugabe appoints former arch-foe as military chief

NZPA-Reuter Salisbury

General Peter Walls, who Jed the white-led' Rhodesian forces in their fight against Patriotic Front guerrillas, has been named as head of a new military high command for the independent State of Zimbabwe. A statement issued by the Prime Minister (Mr Robert Mugabe), in his capacity as Defence Minister, said the new high command would include commanders from the Rhodesian Army and Air Force and the two guerrilla forces which made up the Patriotic Front.

General Walls will preside over meetings of the joint command, which will initially concentrate on amalgamating the. three forces which fought bitterly for seven years.

The new high command has absorbed the headquarters structure of the old Ministry of Combined Operations, "which controlled the Rhodesian side of the war. ; The commander of the Rhodesian Army, General Sandy Mac Lean is expected to stay on in his office, at least for the time being. Prince Charles is due in Salisbury today to represent the Queen at the Zimbabwe independence celebrations tomorrow.. • j

Also scheduled to arrive; in Salisbury is a delegation from the United States led by the veteran diplomat, [ Averell Harriman, and the former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young. The Chinese Foreign Minister (Mr Huang Hua),, the Australian Prime Minister (Mr Malcolm Fraser), and the Commonwealth Secre-tary-General (Sir Shridath Ramphai) are also expected. As visitors began arriving yesterday, municipal workers were putting the final touches to preparations for the independence celebrations and sprucing up the city.

The main event will be teld at a .soccer stadium in

the black township ■ of Harare, where the British flag will be lowered for the last time and Zimbabwe's new if lag will be raised, at midnight local • time (about 9 a.m. Friday. N.Z. time). A Russian airliner carrying . the Soviet delegation was buzzed by a. Britishmade World War Two Spitfire .fighter yesterday, piloted by- one of ’ Rhodesia’s sanctions ,busters; when the. plane taxied to a halt at Salisbury Airport. • - I The Ilyushin 62, the first [Soviet airliner to land in (Rhodesia, brought two senior Soviet officials.

As the airliner stopped before the terminal building, Jack Malloch, who ran a freight airline defying international trade sanctions for rebellious Rhodesia, flew his priyatelv-owned Spitfire low over the plane and performed a victory roll. The presence of the Russian airliner drew a crowd of journalists and airport workers to the tarmac. For years the white government in Salisbury identified its struggle to maintain minority rule as a .struggle against

[the spread of Russian com-' imunism. I The Soviet delegation was led by Sharaf Rashidov, an alternative member of the Politburo and first secretary of the Uzbekistan party, and the Deputy Foreign Minister (Mr Leonid Ilyichev). The Russian delegation was considered to be particularly junior considering the importance of the occasion for Southern Africa. Mr Mugabe never received the help he asked for from Moscow during his guerrilla camoaign, nationalist sources said.

Although he has invited the Soviet Union to the celebrations, he did not send invitations to four close Russian allies in East Europe — East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Britain has announced a $172 million development and technical aid programme for the new State.

The Foreign Secretary (Lord Carrington) told the House of Lords that the aid would be spread over three years. In addition, Britain would help train the new Zimbabwe Army, Lord Carrington said.

Earlier the United States announced it was giving $l5 million in economic aid to Rhodesia. 'The United Nations said it had worked out a $140; million programme with the Salisbury Government to help' displaced people and refugees returning home after the seven-year guerrilla war in Rhodesia.

Lord Carrington’s statement reiterated that Britain would not prosecute anybody who broke the United Nations economic sanctions against Rhodesia after lan Smith’s illegal declaration of independence in 1965. The Opposition foreign-af-fairs spokesman, Peter Shore, attacked the decision to extend the amnesty to British firms that had broken sanctions.