Ian Smith: 'Otherwise, God Help Us'

Ian Smith: 'Otherwise, God Help Us'

Shortly after the conference opened, TIME'S London bureau chief Herman Nickel talked with Rhodesia's Ian Smith at his delegation's headquarters in Geneva's Hotel du Rhone. Excerpts from the interview:

On black suspicions about Smith's sincerity.

I believe this is part of the tactic of the extremists. They are deliberately going out of their way to say that I can't be trusted. They don't believe I mean what I said. How was it that a few months ago I was saying something completely different? This doesn't connote sincerity, you see. Well, they are correct that a few months previously I was saying a different thing. However, I was forced to come to the conclusion that the free world was not going to go on giving us any support, that there wasn't much hope for Rhodesia if even our friends in the world weren't going to go on giving us any support. So that made me change my mind.

On his refusal to openly accept black majority rule.

I said to Dr. Kissinger that I am not prepared to think in Rhodesia in terms of color--black v. white. I still believe one must try to get the best people in Rhodesia together. These extremists believe you are going to get the blacks lined up on one side and the whites on the other. My intention is to get blacks and whites in Rhodesia working together and not against one another. Otherwise, God help us.

On Kissinger's proposal for a half-white, half-black council of state to supervise a black interim government.

I think it's a workable solution. I believe that once you get Rhodesians working together, black and white, you're going to get a lot more sense out of [the blacks] than you're getting out of them now. They're just sparring for position here, playing to the gallery. Once the decision has been made, and we go back to Rhodesia, I believe these people will take their eyes off the gallery and start working in Rhodesia for Rhodesia. There is a distinct possibility that this is going to work, and work well.

On Smith's contention that his position would be immeasurably strengthened if the blacks refuse Kissinger's package.

I would say that there is an understanding with the countries with whom we are trying to work. It is my very strong feeling that if the conference fails because of the intransigence and extremism of the blacks, then we can only come out of this in a better and stronger position. I can't give you details, but from my assessment, after all we've been through, I believe we will get greater cooperation, greater support. But I should perhaps add this point: if we fail here, I would go straight back to Rhodesia in an attempt to pick this [negotiation] up and continue the exercise we have started.

On recent Rhodesian raids into Mozambique.

I have not yet had any direct information from Salisbury on this, but as long as terrorists attack, we reserve the right to hit them hard and to indulge in hot pursuit and to chase them back to where they've come from. I have no idea what effect that will have on the atmosphere of the talks. We have shown over the past two or three years that we can cope with terrorism very effectively. We have one of the most efficient small armies in the world. We still have a big reservoir of manpower, as yet untapped. Every month we are increasing the number of men who are under arms.

On the morale of Rhodesian whites.

All I can tell you is that I'm amazed at how we have managed to [cope with the guerrillas] so far. But it would be stupid of me to guarantee that we can [indefinitely sustain the anti-guerrilla campaign] . I believe we can; time will tell whether I am right or not. In Rhodesia, you have Rhodesians who are fighting for their own country, a country they love dearly.

On Salisbury's unilateral declaration of independence from Britain.

It has given us the eleven best years of our lives. Overnight we created a virile young nation. Our economy is growing and expanding. I have heard economists from all over the world say that our economy over the past ten years has grown at double the pace it would have if there had been no economic sanctions imposed against us. Had we not done it, we would have succumbed to what I believe to have been British blackmail. If we had tamely accepted that, it would have shown a distinct lack of backbone, and from then on, I am satisfied, the Rhodesian nation would have gone backward. So we have had a wonderful decade in which Rhodesia has grown much stronger and better able to face the kind of problems that we are now facing up to. [As for the blacks], it has brought them to their senses.

On Smith's personal plans.

I see myself participating in the transitional government, not because I am dedicated to doing that, but because I happen to be the person in the saddle at the moment, and I believe it would be an advantage to Rhodesia to have somebody like myself assisting during that very difficult period.

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