THE DESPATCH of a govenor (in the shape of the portly Lord Soames) and several hundred officers and soldiers to Zimbabwe represents a desperate attempt bi Britain to shore up the existing social order there.
True, some cosmetic changes will be acceptable. instead of white settlers. New tame politicians to replace Smith and his gang, provided the replacements are acceptable to South preservation of the basic structure of the existing "security forces.
These are the aims of the Tory government.
The four senior British officers already in Zimbabwe are veterans of the Kenyan and Aden civil wars. The regime in Kenya is the model which the Tories would really like, but they are prepared to settle for something worse.
The Patriotic massive political pressure from the frontline states, has made a number of concessions editorial, page 2). The central point, however, is whether they will agree to disband their armies in the field and bring their soldiers under British control.
If they do, the result will be a series of massacres. If they do not, many of the concessions will not amount to all that much as far as imperialism is concerned.
The recent air raids on the guerilla camps in Zambia are the strongest indication yet of what would happen the Patriotic Front disband their armies and assemble in camps supervised by the British.
It does not matter much whether Thatcher and Carrington have agreed to stop referring to the guerillas as "terrorists'. They eliminated on some pretext or the other.
Britain will aim to bring the Front into line politically or military defeat. It would prefer the former, but it will not flinch from the Any illusions could prove to be fatal.
In addition to the there are other equally sinister though more powerful forces in the field.
South Black men acting Africa. The There Zambesi. (see Zambia. bush.
the Mateke Limpopo. would still be alone.
anything to ensure its immediately.
score Union Jack African troops. When the white Rhodesian General Walls denies all knowledge of their presence he is telling a deliberate and cold-blooded lie.
is battery of African howitzers at Chirundu on the They are There are South African guards on the railway line north of Beitbridge as far as Rutenga.
There are South African pilots flying Puma helicopters and hunting Patriotic Front guerillas deep in the There are South African patrols in Hills, north of These forces owe allegiance to the apartheid regime in Pretoria and to no one else. When Carrington says that there will be no 'witch-hunt' of any elements inside the white settlers' army, he is, in effect, assuring the South Africans that they will be left We do not believe that Britain has offer the people Zimbabwe. We are opposed to any British presence in Zimbabwe. That is demand that Britain South Africa get out of Zimbabwe SIRES WHY continue to support all those fighting against the 'security forces'.
And that's why we believe that the guerillas would be suicidal. just for the Patriotic Front, but for the majority of people in Zimbabwe. South the of and ZIMBABWE-RHODESIA S. AFRICA
SALISBURY
WHY WE OPPOSE BRITISH TROOPS MOZAMBIQUE BEIRA
Socialist Challenge,
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LUSAKA O ZAMBIA