KK: MAN OF ACTION Heres how you handle foreign affairs. You dont pussy foot around issues and compromise your ideals. You dont get this kind of tough stance on global issues in this country anymore. - WGM President Kaunda repeatedly threatened in recent months that Zambia might leave the Commonwealth because of Britains unwillingness to take strong action in order to bring down Mr. Smiths illegal regime in Rhodesia. Objecting to the postponement of the proposed Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference from July to September, the President said in Lusaka on July 12 that he had worked for Zambia to remain in a Commonwealth in which there lay sincerity. He continued: If leaving the Commonwealth is the only way in which Zambia can show that soulless cleverness wins rounds but not victories, then we must take this step. If this decision is taken, British or other Commonwealth persons living in Zambia should have no fears at all. We act on principles, and not on necessity. On July 23 Dr. Kaunda stated that his quarrel was not with the British Government but with Mr. Wilson, and added: He makes the decisions and he must take full responsibility.... If the British leader was not prepared to fight this rebellion, he should have let me know. President Kaunda said in Lusaka on Oct. 21 that Britains latest initiative on Rhodesia was to him confusion confounded, and continued: It is a tragic event that a Government such as the British should be behaving in this way. It is the British Governments weakness in the handling of this whole affair that puts us in this position today, where our sacrifices perhaps have not been as effective as they would have been if the British Government followed our advice. Addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Nov. 15, President Kaunda accused the British Government of seeking to disengage from the Rhodesian problem and to leave the fate of Rhodesias Africans at the mercy of a ruthless minority. He continued: It is not only Smith who is guilty of treacherous acts, but Britain as an administering Power, a country that claims to have responsibility over the rebel colony but at the same time refuses to discharge that responsibility. Britains attitude, he went on, was a confirmation of her policy of an ultimate honourable defeat, which to us cannot but be dishonourable and a downright sell-out. Dr. Kaunda recalled that he had from the start warned Mr. Wilson against a policy of voluntary sanctions and had proposed short, swift, and effective measures instead. He said that Zambias economy was now strained as the result of maximum co-operation in sanctions, undertaken if only to show Britain their futility, and added We remain even more convinced that nothing short of force or mandatory sanctions trader Chapter VII will bring about the conditions favourable for normalization of the administration of Rhodesia. Dr. Kaunda also said that he had tried to impress upon Britain that non-racialism at this hour in the breakdown of international barriers is a step further in the development of civilization. He considered that this was Zambias and indeed the rest of independent Africas greatest contribution to human development, for which we are prepared to fight to the end. It is right, it is noble, it is just. In the meantime the Zambian Government had announced on July 15 that Radio Zambia would discontinue relaying B.B.C. news bulletins. web.stanford.edu/group/tomzgroup/.../1401-1966-11-KE-a-KN.doc • Cached
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:28:10 +0000
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