The Stinkwood Summit Fails

"I don't expect it to last more than 30 minutes," Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith growled on the eve of his meeting with black Rhodesian leaders. In fact the meeting, held in a white railway car perched on a bridge 310 ft. above the Zambezi River and overlooking thundering Victoria Falls, was spread over 14 hours. While it came to nothing, there was one consolation for Smith's foes. Mused Bishop Abel Muzorewa, head of the African National Council that claims to speak for Rhodesia's 5.8 million blacks: "It was the longest 30 minutes of Mr. Smith's life."

No Avail. The meeting was dubbed the "stinkwood summit" because it took place around a table made of polished South African stinkwood. Its purpose was to set a time and place for negotiations that would pave the way for black majority rule. It floundered because Smith and most of his 273,000 fellow white Rhodesians do not want to yield power. In a surprise development, South African Prime Minister John Vorster and Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda arrived at the falls--Vorster to put pressure on the whites and Kaunda on the blacks to reach a compromise. Both men were concerned that otherwise a savage civil war would erupt and spill into their countries. As one summit participant put it, the two leaders "first urged, then pleaded and finally threatened." But to no avail.

The two Rhodesian groups could not even agree on a location for future meetings. Last week's parley was staged right on the border between Rhodesia and Zambia, a concession to the fact that Smith would not hold the talks outside Rhodesia and Muzorewa would not hold them inside. Smith insisted that future sessions be held inside Rhodesia. But six A.N.C. members who face arrest on subversion charges if they should return to Rhodesia would not be able to attend. Smith bluntly refused to grant the council leaders temporary immunity, explaining: "It would involve people who are well-known terrorist leaders and bear the responsibility for murders and other atrocities." Technically, of course, the A.N.C. leaders had not entered Rhodesia for last week's meeting, since they sat on the Zambian side of the stinkwood table.

Next Move. As he left for a lunch break, Smith told reporters: "All the problems are on the other side." Later he groused: "I believed I was talking to normal people, but these chaps are a little unnormal at the moment." Shortly before midnight a glowering John Vorster stormed out of the railway car and left for home. He was soon followed by Kenneth Kaunda. As the meeting adjourned at midnight, Smith seemed positively elated by the prospect of its failure.

Such talk is heartening to Smith's white electorate, but it may not sustain his beleaguered country much longer. The guerrilla war being waged by impatient blacks is expected to intensify later this year. The black rulers of newly independent Mozambique are in a position to close their ports to Rhodesian trade whenever they choose, and the pressure from South Africa is bound to continue. Vorster, convinced of the need for an accommodation with black Africa, has already removed 2,000 South African paramilitary policemen from Rhodesia. He has also succeeded in persuading South African cigarette-makers to reduce their purchases of Rhodesian tobacco. If he decides to pull out the Alouette helicopters used in Rhodesia's fight against black guerrillas, he could precipitate a crisis from which the Smith regime might not recover.

Smith's next move will be to try to hold a conference of black leaders inside Rhodesia, thereby excluding such militants as the Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole, James Chikerema and other A.N.C. representatives who cannot enter the country without being arrested. Smith may also try to reach an agreement with Joshua Nkomo, who is known as the most moderate A.N.C. faction leader and the one with the widest political support within Rhodesia. If Smith could work out even a token power-sharing scheme with Nkomo, he just might be able to split the A.N.C. and ease the pressure from Vorster and Kaunda.

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