RHODESIA: The Zimbabwe Dilemma

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What should the U.S. and Britain do about the Muzorewa regime?

One of the most difficult problems facing both the Carter Administration and the new British government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is what to do about Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, as the breakaway British colony will be known after the June 1 installation of a black-led government headed by Methodist Bishop Abel Muzorewa. Both Washington and London would like to move cautiously on the questions of whether to recognize the new Salisbury government and whether to lift the economic sanctions currently in effect against Rhodesia. Neither capital is convinced that Muzorewa can run his country effectively, and neither is anxious to offend black African states by acting hastily on so sensitive a subject. But last week, in a move that was surprising for the size of its support, the Senate voted 75-19 for a resolution asking President Carter to abolish sanctions against Rhodesia within two weeks after the Muzorewa government is installed.

The vote only expressed the Senate's impatience over the Administration's handling of a highly complex subject, but it embarrassed the President nonetheless. Under the terms of the Case-Javits amendment, approved by the Senate last year, the President is obliged to lift sanctions against Rhodesia if he determines that the Salisbury regime has held elections that were free and fair and displayed a willingness to negotiate with the leaders of the Patriotic Front guerrilla organizations that are waging civil war.

Carter had promised that he would make a decision on Rhodesia by June 15, and had written to Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd urging him "not to support any initiative that would preempt existing law or prejudge the issue at stake." This is exactly what Senator Jesse Helms, the North Carolina Republican who has long supported the white Rhodesian cause, had been thumping for. When Helms' position seemed to be gaining strength last week, the Senate settled for a compromise resolution that was not legally binding on the President. But one senior White House aide acknowledged that "some policy alterations look inevitable" in light of the Senate action.

Carter has consistently tried to avert a future crisis in which the U.S. might find itself aligned with the white-led regimes of southern Africa against black African armies backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union. With this in mind, the U.S. and Britain have been trying for the past two years to assemble an all-parties conference on Rhodesia that could lead to peace and black majority rule.