Rhodesia: And Now for Oil

The stakes were rising in Ian Smith's daring game against the British. Rhodesians jammed the downtown streets of Salisbury and Bulawayo in a carefree holiday shopping spree, while shopkeepers demonstrated their support of the poker-faced Prime Minister by decorating their windows with his picture, draped in tinsel and purple bunting. But in the rest of Africa, black men were lacing their indignation at Smith's breakaway regime with ugly threats.

Harold Wilson was on the spot. None of the mild economic sanctions he had imposed seemed to be having the desired effect of forcing Smith's regime to topple or recant. Demanding faster results, 35 delegates from the often divided Organization of African Unity met in Addis Ababa three weeks ago and passed a resolution calling on its members to break off diplomatic relations with Britain on Dec. 15 unless Wilson brought Smith to heel. The demand seemed pointless and futile enough; nonetheless when the date fell due, six nations acted on it.

Need for Calm. First to go was Guinea's flamboyant Sékou Touré. Infinitely more distressing to No. 10 Downing Street was the break made by Tanzania's Julius Nyerere, a Commonwealth member and a moderate. Genuinely reluctant, Nyerere acted on what he obviously considered to be a moral question, made it clear that he hoped to remain in the Commonwealth and even resume relations with Britain if Rhodesia's rebellion was put down. But for the moment, he was breaking with Britain. So were Ghana, Mali, Egypt and the Sudan; there were signs that others would follow.

Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, another moderate, was also displaying disturbing signs of irritation. For a month, he had been asking Britain to send troops across into Rhodesia to "protect" the Kariba power station, on the southern side of the Zambezi. Britain refused. Last week Kaunda announced that he would send his next request, if necessary, to Moscow.

The last thing Britain wants is troops from other nations on Central African soil. Yet one of Africa's elder statesmen, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, was also working up to a similar demand. Kenyatta petitioned the U.N. Security Council to declare embargoes on Rhodesia under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which would most likely require a U.N. force to police them. Britain does have a veto in the Security Council but the General Assembly can also vote to send such a force.

Harold Wilson arrived at U.N. headquarters in New York last week to appeal for reason. "I beseech this assembly," said he, "to give us time to deal with this situation. Calm, cool counsels are more likely to settle this issue. If passions take control, this mad action could be the beginning of a new and more dangerous conflict, unlike any in world history." Before he began to speak, 25 African delegates (including eight Commonwealth representatives) had walked out on him. Snapped Tanzania's Ambassador John Malecela: "Africa feels the United Kingdom is stalling."