Muzorewa appeals to Britain

Press, 26 April 1979, Page 8

Muzorewa appeals to Britain

NZPA-Reuter Salisbury Bishop Abel Muzorewa, elected first black leader of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, has appealed to Britain to lead the way in ending his country’s years of political and economic isolation.

The Bishop told a news conference within hours of the announcement of his victory on Tuesday night that the colonial power from which Rhodesia seized independence in 1965 should take the lead by recognising Zimbabwe Rhodesia and lifting trade sanctions. “We have now completed the requirements of successive British Governments and trust that Her Majesty's Government will now provide the lead to the international community in lifting sanctions and recognising the Government,” he said. The Bishop’s United African National Council won 51 of the 72 black seats disputed in last week’s elections, and thus has a majority in the 100-seat Parliament. The 28 other seats are reserved for whites and have already been secured by the Rhodesian front of the outgoing Prime Minister, lan Smith. The 54-year-old bishop of the American-based United Methodist Church will take over as Prime Minister in about a month, ending 88 years of white minority rule. Bishop Muzorew’s triumph was marred by the reaction of his closest rival, the; veteran nationalist'

s campaigner, the Rev, f Ndabaningi Sithole, to his| s own clear defeat. His party t won only 12 seats. i Mr Sithole alleged there I had been gross irregularities 1 during the election. He said ; he would not accept the i verdict and demanded an inquiry. ij Bishop Muzorewa f i shrugged this off. “We t won’t go without any sleep over that. The Government \ will discipline those who do j not want to be law-abiding , citizens,” he said. i The Bishop said .the , election, in which about 64 per cent of the estimated . 2.9 M voters cast ballots, ! proved most people were in favour of the negotiated ’ internal settlement and s rejected the attempt by the 1 foreign-based Patriotic Front ); guerrilla movement to take power by force. 5 “The people have firmly 1 rejected the . forces of 1 darkness and evil and have ; firmly shown the ballot and not the bullet will determine i the nature of their future,” I he said. ' Bishop Muzorewa has - taken a tough line with the > Patriotic Front, saying he will not negotiate either on i the basis of an all-parties 'conference or with ! individual guerrilla leaders. But on Tuesday night he :

s did not rule out talks. “The i Government of national unity is now going to decide on the policy of whether there will be negotiations, with whom, and where,” he said. In London, the British Prime Minister (Mr James Callaghan) has announced that he will send his special envoy, Cledwyn Hughes, to Africa on another Rhodesia peace mission if he wins the May 3 British General Election. Mr Callaghan said he had asked Mr Hughes, a close friend and former chairman of the Parliamentary Labour party, to go to Africa for further exploratory talks on whether it would be possible to convene an all-parties Rhodesia conference to negotiate a cease-fire and hold internationallysupervised elections. In Washington, the Opposition Republican Partv chairman (Mr Bill Brock) has issued a statement calling on President Jimmy Carter to lift sanctions against Rhodesia. The statement was issued after two separate conservative moves to introduce legislation to force President Carter to lift United Nations-mandated sanctions.