ZIMBABWE: Talks riasco

Scan page 2

Geneva, the Mecca of wealth and hypocrisy is an appropriate place for talks on the "independence' of These talks continue to perform the task they were designed for... achieving nothing 'nice and slowly' for the black masses of Zimbabwe.

The British 'Chairman' Ivor Richards fulfilled his allotted tasks last week by announcing almost ¡every day a new reason for postponement of the formal sessions of the conference.

SIDETRACK

The latest is his attempt to sidetrack the unanimous demands from ¡the 'Nationalist' side for a definite date for independence, into discussions on the composition of an interim government" - a body whose political character is meaningless when the period for which it is interim' is left floating in the air.

More generaliy, the task of Richards and of the Geneva conference is to gain time for imperialism to regain its footing in Southern Africa, to remove Smith and replace him with African politicians acceptable and loyal to imperialism.

This task must be undertaken under conditions where the Smith regime has lost effective control of large areas of the countryside to the guerilla forces, and where the Salisbury government - desperately struggling to retain support in the White population - was nonetheless forced to admit last week that several thousand' new guerilla fighters are established within the borders of Zimbabwe.

Although both British and American imperialism have accepted, publicly and privately, that Smith must soon go, every military blow against him is at the same time a blow at their plans, since it devalues him as a bargaining counter to back their support of Nkomo and the right wing in the negotiations.

OBJECTIVE

Nonetheless, the Geneva conference, merely by sitting there, has gained its primary objective of entrapping the political leadership of the divided liberation movements into the quicksands of such 'negotiations'.

As everyone well recognises, conference chairman Richards is only formally an employee of the British Foreign Office.

In reality he acts as errand boy for American imperialism, which plays the central role in attempting to hold back the revolution in Southern Africa.

A new dimension has therefore been added to Richard's task by Carter's election. Kissinger's role as world-wide flying negotiator is now over, and arrangements must be made to handle the Zimbabwe issue during the interregnum.

PROFESSION

The Labour government's Foreign Office plays its part by providing a professional procrastinator. But equally important was last week's statement in Dar es Salaam US Senate's African affairs subCommittee, that when the Carter adminstration takes office in Jan…take a frank position in favour of armed struggle if all other negotiated settlements [sic!] fail."

LIBERATION FORCES This was accompanied by a suggestion that the US government might give material help to liberation forces. Such statements, of course, commit Carter to nothing whatsoever, now or in the future.

But what they are intended to do is relieve at least temporarily, pressure on the Nationalist delegates to quit the conference by building the illusion of a basic shift in American policy.

At the same time such statements serve as camouflage for the role of US diplomacy and the CIA ZAPU liberation forces in the rest of Southern Africa, especially in Angola.

There, US backing for puppet 'liberation' forces now continues in the operations of UNITA in the outhern part of the country, ordering on the northern zone of Namibia (South West Africa) from which the population has been removed by South African troops.

For those who held any illusions that there was a peaceful' road to independence and self determination • for the Zimbabwean black majority, the Geneva talks have proved a complete fiasco. They must be ended at once - and the Labour government forced to stop talks with the Smith racists - and arm the African workers.

----- pull-quotes -----

PHOTO: Courtesy of International Defence and Ald PHOTO: Courtesy of Inti uary it should: