The Hard Road From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe

Extract

One day last February Ian Smith, head of the Rhodesian Government, sat down with three black leaders and signed an agreement that is designed to bring a majority-ruled Zimbabwe into being by the end of this year. After signing, Smith extended his hands upward and shrugged his shoulders, as though to signal his resignation to the inevitable. The black leaders were jubilant. Much of the rest of the world expressed relief that one of the nastiest conflicts in a race-conscious universe was apparently on its way to peaceful resolution. Resignation, jubilation, relief—but these are not the only reactions to what has come to be called “the internal settlement.” In Africa and elsewhere, especially at the United Nations, the settlement has been condemned by many as a sellout to continued white racism. Because it is important to understand the objections to the settlement, we will begin there.