"It Seems Like a Miracle"

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But the cease-fire talks, which began last Friday, raised some divisive issues that could still spoil the conference. Carrington put forth a proposal that could stop the fighting in seven to ten days. It calls for the strict separation of the rival armies and the confining of the Patriotic Front forces to designated assembly points within the country. But the question of the guerrillas' exact legal standing during the cease-fire and election campaign, left ambiguous in the Carrington proposal, sparked a bitter verbal exchange between members of the rival delegations. Following the formal negotiating session, Salisbury's military commander, Lieut. General Peter Walls, branded as "nonsense" the guerrillas' claim to equal status with his troops. "If anybody shoots at us," he warned ominously, "we will stop them from shooting any more." Front Spokesman Eddison Zvogbo angrily replied that "we are legal forces, we have equal status," and promised "severe retribution" against those who moved to deny that status.

Another source of friction concerns the time required to establish the ceasefire. Carrington feels it can be carried out in less than two weeks. But the Patriotic Front leaders insist they will need several months to get their supporters back into the country from their bases in Mozambique, Angola and Zambia. The guerrillas are rapidly infiltrating the country to improve their positions before the cease-fire takes effect. The Front now has an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 fighters within Zimbabwe Rhodesia's borders. Though British negotiators expect tough bargaining on this and other sticky points, they remain confident that a cease-fire agreement could be reached this week.

Once this is accomplished, a British Governor will fly to Salisbury to hoist the Union Jack and officially return the country to colonial status. The most likely candidate for that job appears to be Lord Soames, 59, a son-in-law of Winston Churchill's and a Minister Without Portfolio in the Thatcher government. The Governor will be accompanied by a staff of British civil servants, a small number of soldiers and a British police official, Sir James Haughton, who will oversee the Rhodesian police. A British election commissioner will organize the voting. Carrington also intends to establish a cease-fire commission on which the military commanders of both factions would be represented under the chairmanship of a British general. Elections will be held two months after the cease-fire takes effect, possibly as early as February.

News of last week's stunning breakthrough won near unanimous accolades for the man most responsible for pulling it off: Lord Carrington (see box). Paradoxically, no one greeted his accomplishment with more enthusiasm than the Rhodesian whites, whose privileges have been whittled away since the beginning of the Lancaster House talks. The prospect of peace, international recognition and an end to economic sanctions has turned all but a handful of Rhodesia's diehards into fans of Carrington's and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's. The Salisbury Parliament is scheduled to meet this week to vote the British-drafted constitution into law. Even Ian Smith's Rhodesia Front declared its support of the agreements.