Front Line Diplomats: African Diplomatic Representations of the Zimbabwean Patriotic Front, 1976–1978

Abstract

This article examines front line state (FLS) and Nigerian diplomatic support for the Patriotic Front of Zimbabwe during the crucial years of war and negotiations that ultimately led to independence for Zimbabwe in 1980. The diplomatic role of Nigeria in the process, particularly during 1978, is explored as a contrast to the role of FLS diplomats from Mozambique and Zambia. Based on archival sources from the UK and US, this article presents evidence indicating that while there did exist strong alliances between Joshua Nkomo and his ZAPU party with Zambia and Botswana, and Robert Mugabe’s ZANU party counted on the support of Julius Nyerere’s Tanzania and Samora Machel’s Mozambique, there were periods when these alliances were less than clear cut, and FLS diplomats often defined the relative support provided to each of these parties by the UK and US. The fragile and contested nature of the Patriotic Front alliance between ZAPU and ZANU is analysed as a major stumbling block in independence negotiations, but also as a tool used by Mugabe and Nyerere to influence the outcome of negotiations toward majority rule directly, in order to assure an electoral victory for ZANU.

Notes

¹ I.W. Zartman, Ripe for Resolution: Conflict and Intervention in Africa (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1985); S. Stedman, Peacemaking in Civil War: International Mediation in Zimbabwe, 1974–1980 (Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 1990); C. Vance, Hard Choices: Critical Years in America’s Foreign Policy (New York, Simon and Schuster, 1983); M. Preston, Ending Civil War: Rhodesia and Lebanon in Perspective (London, I.B. Tauris, 2004); A. DeRoche, Black, White, and Chrome: The United States and Zimbabwe, 1953–1998 (Trenton, Africa World Press, 2001); S. Onslow (ed.), Cold War in Southern Africa: White Power, Black Liberation (London, Routledge, 2009); R. Renwick, Unconventional Diplomacy in Southern Africa (New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1997); F. Chung, Re-living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from the Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe (Harare, Weaver Press, 2006); L. White, Unpopular Sovereignty: Rhodesian Independence and African Decolonization (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2015); N. Mitchell, Jimmy Carter in Africa: Race and the Cold War (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2016).

² C. Watts, Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence: An International History (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012); A. Pallotti, ‘Tanzania and the Decolonization of Rhodesia’, Afriche e Orienti, 13 (2011), pp. 215–31; C. Saunders and S. Onslow, ‘The Cold War and Southern Africa, 1976–1990’, in M.P. Leffler and O.A. Westad (eds), The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Volume 3: Endings (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2009); H.A. Kissinger, Years of Renewal (New York, Simon and Schuster, 1999).

³ This argument will be expanded and further supported in my book, T. Scarnecchia, ‘Cold War Race States: Rhodesia, Zimbabwe and the Continuities of Defending Race, 1960–1985’ (forthcoming).

⁴ P. Gleijeses, Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976–1991 (Chapel Hill, North Carolina University Press, 2013).

⁵ V. Shubin, The Hot ‘Cold War’: The USSR in Southern Africa (London, Pluto Press, 2008); N. Bhebe and G. Mazarire, ‘Zimbabwe’s War of Liberation’, in A.J. Temu and J. das N. Tembe (eds), Southern African Liberation Struggles: Contemporaneous Documents, 1960–1994, Volume 5 (Dar-es-Salaam, SADC Hashim Mbita Project, Mkuki Na Nyota Press, 2014).

⁶ On the origins and history of the split between ZAPU and ZANU, officially begun in 1963, see T. Scarnecchia, The Urban Roots of Democracy and Political Violence in Zimbabwe: Harare and Highfield, 1940–1964 (Rochester, University of Rochester Press, 2008); E. Sibanda, The Zimbabwe African People’s Union 1961–1987 (Trenton, Africa World Press, 2005); E. Msindo, Ethnicity in Zimbabwe: Transformations in Kalanga and Ndebele Societies, 1860–1990 (Rochester, University of Rochester Press, 2012); A. Mlambo, A History of Zimbabwe (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014).

⁷ M. Larmer, Rethinking African Politics: A History of Opposition in Zambia (Burlington, Ashgate, 2011); A. DeRoche, Kenneth Kaunda, the United States and Southern Africa (London, Bloomsbury, 2016); C. Chongo, ‘Decolonising Southern Africa: A History of Zambia’s Role in Zimbabwe’s Liberation Struggle, 1964–1979’, DPhil thesis, University of Pretoria, 2015.

⁸ From Secretary of State, Washington DC, to US Embassy, Lusaka, ‘Chona Meeting with Secretary’, Document No. 1976LUSAKAO71527Z, FEB 76 File Unit: Electronic Telegrams, 1/1/1976–12/31/1976, Series: Central Foreign Policy Files, created 7/1/1973–12/31/1976, documenting the period 7/1/1973–12/31/1976 – Record Group 59, available at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=99555&dt=2082&dl=1345, retrieved 13 December 2016.

⁹ From Lusaka to FCO, Telno 524, 27 February 1976, FCO36/1855, ‘Zambia’s Involvement in Rhodesia Problem’ (Part A), 1976. National Archives, UK.

¹⁰ From Luxemburg to FCO, Telno 64, 2 March 1976. FCO36/1855, ‘Zambia’s Involvement in Rhodesia Problem’ (Part A), 1976. National Archives, UK.

¹¹ ‘Record of a Meeting Between the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and the Zambian Foreign Minister at 11 am on Tuesday 9 March 1976’, FCO36/1855, ‘Zambia’s Involvement in Rhodesia Problem’ (Part A), 1976. National Archives, UK.

¹² T. Scarnecchia, ‘Proposed Large-Scale Compensation for White Farmers as an Anglo-American Negotiating Strategy for Zimbabwe, 1976–1979’, in A. Pallotti and C. Tornimbeni (eds), State, Land and Democracy in Southern Africa (London, Ashgate, 2015).

¹³ Miles Larmer suggests, based on his interviews with Chona, that the imprisoned leaders had been arrested not because of Chitepo’s assassination, but in order to help to create unity between ZANU and ZAPU for negotiations to proceed. Larmer, Rethinking African Politics, p. 205.

¹⁴ D. Moore, ‘Two Perspectives on Zimbabwe's National Democratic Revolution: Thabo Mbeki and Wilfred Mhanda’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 20, 1 (2012), pp. 119–38; W. Mhanda, Dzino: Memories of Freedom Fighter (Harare, Weaver Press, 2011).

¹⁵ From Secretary of State, Washington DC, to Ambassador, Embassy, London, 1 December 1976. For AF/Edmonson from Wisner, ‘Rhodesia Conference: Chona’s views on an interim government’. Electronic Telegrams, 1976 Central Foreign Policy Files, created 7/1/1973–12/31/1979, documenting the period 1973–12/31/1979 – Record Group 59, available at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=68462&dt=2082&dl=1345, retrieved 13 December 2016.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ Ibid.

¹⁸ Larmer, Rethinking African Politics; see also L. White, The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo: Texts and Politics in Zimbabwe (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2003), especially pp. 88–9, on Nyerere’s and Machel’s responses to the arrests of ZANU leaders after Chitepo’s death.

¹⁹ J. Miller, An African Volk: The Apartheid Regime and Its Search for Survival (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016), p. 160.

²⁰ Although this shift is also probably a response to Zambia’s failed attempt to negotiate with South Africa and Rhodesia during a period of détente in 1975, which added to the rift in the FLS attitudes towards ZAPU and ZANU. See Larmer, Rethinking African Politics; DeRoche, Kenneth Kaunda; and Chongo, Decolonising Southern Africa. Chongo’s contribution here is important in challenging the pro-ZANU arguments that collapse Zambian economic crises and Kaunda’s support for Nkomo into a simplistic reading of détente and direct negotiations. Chongo’s original analysis, based on Zambian and OAU sources, is a welcome contribution to the historiography of Zambia’s place in the FLS negotiations.

²¹ From Secretary of State, Washington DC, to Ambassador, Embassy, London, 1 December 1976. For AF/Edmonson from Wisner, ‘Rhodesia Conference: Chona’s views on an interim government’. Electronic Telegrams, 1976, Central Foreign Policy Files, created 7/1/1973–12/31/1979, documenting the period 1973–12/31/1979 – Record Group 59, available at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=68462&dt=2082&dl=1345, retrieved 14 December 2016.

²² Ibid.

²³ Ibid.

²⁴ Ibid.

²⁵ M. Chona, Special Assistant to the President of Zambia … Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Secretary of State. Saturday 11 December 1976. Claridge’s, London, p. 7. US National Archives, NARA, Declassified April 2004.

²⁶ Ibid.

²⁷ Ibid.

²⁸ Ibid.

²⁹ DeRoche, Kenneth Kaunda; Larmer, Rethinking African Politics; Chongo, Decolonising Southern Africa.

³⁰ Meeting between Minister of State (David Ennals) and the Foreign Minister of Mozambique (Joachim Chissano), Excelsior Hotel, London, 12 March 1976. Item 15 FCO 36/1853 ‘Mozambique’s involvement in the Rhodesia Problem 1976’ (Part A), National Archives, UK.

³¹ Record of a meeting between the Minister of State and the Foreign Minister of Mozambique … at the Excelsior Hotel, London, 13 March 1976, p. 3. FCO36/1853, ‘Mozambique’s Involvement in the Rhodesia Problem’ (Part A), 1976, National Archives, UK.

³² FCO36/1823, ‘USA involvement in Rhodesia’ (Part A), 1976, item 14A, 29 April 1976, National Archives, UK.

³³ Record of a Conversation between the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mozambique, UN Building, 6 October 1976. FCO36/1854, ‘Mozambique Involvement in Rhodesia Problem’ (Part B), 1976, p. 2.

³⁴ Rhodesia Office, ‘Report on Reducing Russian and Cuban influences on PF’. FCO 36/1929, ‘Rhodesia Political Parties: The Patriotic Front 1977’, Item 231, National Archives, UK.

³⁵ J. Iliffe, Obasanjo, Nigeria, and the World (Rochester, Boydell and Brewer, 2011) p. 79.

³⁶ Ibid., p. 79.

³⁷ From Secretary of State Washington DC to Ambassador Embassy Lagos, Lusaka, Dar es Salaam, Maputo, Gaborone, Cape Town, 8 May 1979, ‘Subject: Assistant Secretary Moose’s Meeting with Brigader Joseph Garba, May 3. Notes that Garba at this point is the former Nigerian Commissioner for external affairs and now commandant of the Nigeran Defense Acadamy (NDA)’. Garba was in the US ‘as a guest of the Secretary of the Army Alexander’. Electronic Telegrams, 1979 Central Foreign Policy Files, created 7/1/1973–12/31/1979, documenting the period 1973–12/31/1979 – Record Group 59, available at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=236755&dt=2776&dl=2169, retrieved 14 December 2016.

³⁸ Ibid.

³⁹ Ibid.

⁴⁰ Ibid.

⁴¹ Ibid.

⁴² Ibid.

⁴³ Ibid.

⁴⁴ Ibid.

⁴⁵ Joshua Nkomo, The Story of My Life (London, Methuen, 1984), p. 189.

⁴⁶ From US Embassy, Dar es Salaam, to Secretary of State, ‘Rhodesia: President Nyerere’s Views on Current Efforts at Solution’, 22 August 1978; and from US Embassy, Dar es Salaam, to Secretary of State, ‘Rhodesia: Nyerere’s Concerns’, 24 August 1978, declassified US Department of State EO Systematic Review, 20 March 2014. Electronic Telegrams, 1978; Central Foreign Policy Files, created 7/1/1973–12/31/1979, documenting the period 1973–12/31/1979 – Record Group 59, available at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=206555&dt=2694&dl=2009, retrieved 14 December 2016.

⁴⁷ ‘Excerpts from President Nyerere’s Press Conference in Dar es Salaam Concerning the Lusaka Frontline Summit’, 3/9/1978, Doc. 580, in Goswin Baumhogger, The Struggle for Independence: Documents on the Recent Development of Zimbabwe (1975–1980), Volume 4 (Hamburg, Institute for African Studies Documentation Centre, 1984), p. 652.

⁴⁸ Ibid.

⁴⁹ Lusaka to FCO, Telno 585 of 5/9/78. FCO 36/2127, ‘Rhodesia Political Parties: Patriotic Front’ (Part 3), 1978, National Archives, UK.

⁵⁰ Ibid.

⁵¹ Ibid.

⁵² Ibid.

⁵³ N. Mitchell, Jimmy Carter in Africa: Race and the Cold War (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2016), pp. 493–5.

⁵⁴ From Secretary of State, Washington DC, to Ambassador, US Embassy, Lusaka, ‘Conversation with Mark Chona on Rhodesia’, 10 September 1978. Drafted by A.F. Moose DC, Declassified US Department of State, 20 March 2014. Electronic Telegrams, 1978; Central Foreign Policy Files, created 7/1/1973–12/31/1979, documenting the period 1973–12/31/1979 – Record Group 59, available at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=229170&dt=2694&dl=2009, retrieved 14 December 2016.

⁵⁵ Ibid.

⁵⁶ Ibid.

⁵⁷ Ibid.

⁵⁸ Ibid.

⁵⁹ Ibid.

⁶⁰ From Ambassador, Embassy, Lagos, to Secretary of State, Washington DC, ‘Garba Lambasts Nyerere on aborted Smith/PF meeting’, 20 September 1978. Declassified/Released US Department of State, 20 March 2014. Electronic Telegrams, 1978; Central Foreign Policy Files, created 7/1/1973–12/31/1979, documenting the period 1973–12/31/1979 – Record Group 59, available at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=232286&dt=2694&dl=2009, retrieved 14 December 2016.

⁶¹ Telegram no. 392, 21 November 1978, Ambassdor Lewen to FCO, ‘Meeting with Tongogara’, FCO 36/2128, ‘The Patriotic Front’ (Part H), 1978, item no. 522, National Archives, UK.

⁶² Garba claims that Nkomo had told him on 13 May 1978 ‘that Tongogara had indicated that he would be prepared to work under him and permit his guerrillas to fight side by side with ZAPU fighters. He [Nkomo] said that if this arrangement worked well, Mugabe, who would be an obstacle, would be brought in later, and faced with a fait accompli’. J. Garba, Diplomatic Soldiering: Nigerian Foreign Policy, 1975–1979 (Ibadan, Spectrum Books, 1987) p. 71.

⁶³ Willard Depree, ‘Mozambique: When Diplomacy Paid Off’, Foreign Service Journal, March 2015, available at http://www.afsa.org/mozambique-when-diplomacy-paid, retrieved 24 March 2016. Nkomo argues that he and Mugabe had agreed before signing the Lancaster House agreement that they would run together on the same PF ticket. He was, of course, not pleased when he heard that Mugabe and ZANU–PF would go it alone. Nkomo, The Story of My Life, p. 200.

⁶⁴ See T. Scarnecchia, ‘Rationalizing Gukurahundi: Cold War and South African Foreign Relations with Zimbabwe, 1981–1983’, Kronos, 37 (2011), pp. 87–103.