Disarray in Addis

The militant foes of Rhodesia had hoped to make last week's meeting of the Organization of African Unity a rallying point for tough action against Premier Ian Smith's rebel regime. It did not work out that way. No sooner had the delegates from 36 nations gathered in Addis Ababa's Africa Hall than they fell to squabbling about Ghana's deposed Kwame Nkrumah, an advocate of direct African military action against the Rhodesians. Guinea, Mali, Tanzania and Egypt all stomped out of the conference when it was decided to seat a Ghanaian delegation representing the new Accra government. After that, Algeria, Somalia, Kenya and the Brazzaville Congo followed suit.

Net all these delegations could be classed as African "radicals," but the walkouts removed enough of them to give the moderates their day. When the Rhodesia question at last came before the conference, the resolution that succeeded was not Algeria's--which called for a guerrilla war against Rhodesia--but a more orthodox measure calling on Great Britain to use force if necessary to suppress the Rhodesian rebellion.

The disarray of his black adversaries must have delighted Ian Smith. Each day he had more reasons for joy: heavily laden tanker trucks have been roaring north along the highway from South Africa, bringing in some 40,000 gallons of gasoline daily, nearly one-third of Rhodesia's rationed needs. The petroleum is being sold to Rhodesia by independent South African oil companies, which have been emboldened by Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd's decision not to abide by Britain's oil embargo. The trucks were seized by Smith from British Petroleum and Shell subsidiaries in Rhodesia, repainted grey and blue or yellow and black. With white Rhodesians at the wheels, the trucks are driven to secret loading points in South Africa, filled, and then raced back to Rhodesia. Emblazoned with slogans (samples: "I hate Harold," "Rhodesians Thank You"), the trucks are greeted in Salisbury with jubilation.

The road shipments may soon be supplemented with more fuel from another source. At the port of Beira in Portuguese-ruled Mozambique, workmen are completing new oil storage tanks alongside a pipeline that runs 186 miles west to Rhodesia's largest refinery. And tramp tankers laden with gasoline are rumored to be Beira-bound.

Flouting the oil embargo with such success by no means freed Rhodesia from the consequences of the other economic sanctions Britain has imposed on the rebellious colony. But the new flow of fuel did mean that the time when Smith and his followers would be compelled to seek a settlement had probably been postponed for at least several months.

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