I April 28, 1978 KEESING'S CONTEMPORARY ARCHIVES
I Zambia and had killed 38 terrorists against the loss of one Rhodesian
soldier, and that fighting was still continuing in the Kavulamanja
area of the Luangwa district. I t was also stated that this action was
1 a self-defenceoperation launched after terrorists had been discovered
crossing the Zambezi river in boats and had been put out of action
I inside Rhodesian waters.
I According to Zambian sources the attack had taken place on
March 6 "without any provocation" and six Rhodesian aircraft had
been shot down over Zambian territory on March 7.
General Walls admitted on March 12 that five Zambian soldiers
had been killed in the raid and claimed that altogether at least 42
terrorists had been killed and about seven tons of arms, ammunition
and equipment captured.
President Kaunda, on the other hand, said on March 13 that 10
Zambian soldiers and I2 civilians had lost their lives in this raid, and
!liar four Rhodesian jets, three Chinook helicopters and a Beaver
spotter aircraft had been shot down. He also issued a warning that,
once the Western countries went "to the assistance of Ian Smith, we
will have no choice but to go to Eastern countries to come and
support us" [in the defence of Zambia] and that this would mean
that "the conflagration will have started".
Mr Mainza Chona, the Zambian Prime Minister, accused Britain
in Parliament on March 14 of being "indirectly responsible for the
brutal murder of innocent Zambians and destruction of Zambia's
property" and added that it should comoensate Zambia for the
losses suffered.
The Rhodesian raid on Zambian territory was strongly condemned
by Dr Kurt Waldheim, the UN Secretary-General, and also by Dr
Owen and the US State Department.
Upon a complaint by Zambia of "a premeditated act of
aggression" against it by the Smith regime in Rhodesia o n
March 6-8, the U N Security Council met o n March 15 and two
days later unanimously adopted a resolution (sponsored by
Bolivia, Gabon, India, Kuwait, Mauritius and Nigeria) com-
mending Zambia and other "front-line" states for their
continued support of Zimbabwe's struggle for freedom and in-
dependence and for their restraint in the face ol' provocarions
bythe Salisbury regime; declaring that any further acts against
Zambia's sovereignty would entail consideration of more
effective measures by the Security Council; and calling on the
United Kingdom to take prompt measures t o end the existence
of the Smith regime and to ensure the attainment of indepen-
dence under genuine majority rule in Zimbabwe.
Incidents had occurred earlier also o n Rhodesia's border
with Botswana.
The most serious of these was announced in Gaborone (the capital
of Botswana) on Feb. 28, 1978. when i t was stated that on the pre-
iious day Rhodesian forces had captured a Botswana Army patrol
near Kazungula and had killed I5 Botswana soldiers and two
c~rilians.and had iniured eieht other soldiers. Mr Van der Bvl. the
~hodcsianForeign ~inisteryhowever,said in Salisbury on ~ e b 28 . Among priests expelled were the Rev. Paul Egli, released while
that the members of the Botswana defence force had been "mixed
up r i t h terrorists" (pursued by the Rhodesian forces) despite "fre-
quent Botswana Government denials" of giving any support to
them.
Operations carried out inside Rhodesia by small groups of
puerrillas were in the main directed against "soft" targets such
as Black civilians who were regarded as supporters of the
Smith regime, White farmers and their families (of whom a n
increasing number were murdered), and mission stations and
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...,
Such actions also included the abduction of school children,
along ,hem (hat of 50 from a school in [he cwanda area
ucst announcedon act, 31, and one of about 60 children
ktween[he ages of eight and I 1 from another school i n western
Rhodesia, after the headmaster and three tribesmen had bee,, killed
izr announced on Nov. I I).
On lhe Other hand a 'ANLA force Of about 60 men
artxked, on ~ e c .17, 1978, the. Rhodesian Grand Reef air
I
I
hasenear Umtali with rockets and mortars, killing One African
ioldier and injuring six White ~ e r v i ~ e m e In
n . a counter-action
~hodesiantroops captured large quantities o f arms, Xm'luni-
jon and equipment.
Figures announced in Salisbury o n Dec. 31, 1977, showed
:),at during the year 1977 at least 4,200 soldiers, "terrorists",
ad civilians had been killed, among them 1,900 "terrorists"
? ~ d1,070 civilian victims of terrorism (all except 82 of them
sing Black)-most of the remainder being accounted for by
:~ilians helping o r "running with" terrorists and by curfew
::takers. A total o f a t least 8,500 persons were said to hb e
28949
died in the war since December 1972. The total of members of
the security forces killed in these five years was on Jan. 10,
1978, given a s 412. [For earlier figures, see page 28649.1
The Government introduced, between October 1977 and
January 1978, increasingly severe restrictions o n reporting
matters connected with the war.
On Oct. 7 a ban was placed on the publication of news concerning
deportations after the Government had been criticized in the press
for expelling missionaries rather than putting them on trial. (It was,
however, not forbidden to disseminate such news abroad.)
On Oct. 13 the military authorities subjected all press articles
dealing with security matters to pre-censorship.
Under new regulations published on Jan. 6 the Government made
i t an offence to "communicate, publish or disseminate . . . whether
within or outside Rhodesia" any information about the guerrilla war
or acts of sabotage. I t was officially stated that this measure had
become necessary because "matters which could reasonably be des-
cribed as military secrets and which could be to the detriment of
Rhodesia's national security and the safety of servicemen" were
being published openly.
O n Jan. 20 the Government offered to grant a n amnesty to
any "terrorist" who returned to the country in peace, and
made arrangements t o bring this offer to the notice of guer-
-:11-..
1l l l a b .
In Maputo Mr Simon Muzenda, vice-president of Z,ANU, rejected
the offer on Jan. 22 as "an empty and shameless gesture", adding
that an amnesty could be considered only after the defeat of Mr
Smith's minority regime.
1
In Salisbury Mr Andre Holland, Deputy Minister of Information,
announced on Jan. 22 that after consultations with General Walls
it had been decided to forbid the publication or dissemination of
any news or comment on this "safe retam-policy because it was
"absolutely essential to ensure that the terrorists who are likely to
respond to this offer are given the opportunity to do so".
!
T h e effect of the continued warfare o n the country's educa-
tion and health services was indicated by figures published
during February 1978.
These showed that 52 African school teachers had been killed and
2,600 had lost their jobs, and a total of 438 primary and 16 secon-
dary schools had been forced to close, depriving some 90,000 Black
children of education. In addition, 52 council clinics had been closed
"t ,:
I:
,
or destroyed; I I mission hospitals and six government hospitals had 1:
been forced to close, and another 17 mission hospitals had had to
reduce their services; the number of missionary doctors had been
reduced from 36 to 18-two having been murdered and two deported,
while 14 had left. Altogether 14 missionaries (all but one Roman
Catholics) had been murdered and two pries~shad been abducted.
The war also had considerable effects upon the activities of
Roman Catholic priests. I
serving a one-year prison sentence [see pages 28552 and 282041 and i
,I :
"
deported on Dec. 7, 1977, and Fr Philip Timmins (on Feb. 8, 1978), I
who was the third missionary of the Wedza mission (110 kilometres
or about 69 miles south-east of Salisbury) to be expelled.
Priests killed by guerrillas included Fr George Joeger (42), a Swiss
member of the order of Bethlehem Fathers, "executed" (according
to a statement made by a guerrilla convicted in September 1977 of
murder and of possessing arms) in December 1976 by guerrillas who
had accused him of acting as an informer for the security forces and
of thus being responsible for many "murders and other acts of
violence".
Another Roman Catholic priest. Fr William Martin O'Regan, was
on NOV. I sentenced at Umtali to three years in prison (suspended
for five years) after pleading guilty of failing to report the presence
Of terrorists at the Regina Coeli mission at lnyanga from ~ ~ rtoi l
August 1977; while stating that he agreed with their aims, he had
declared his opposition to communism and to any form of violence.
The Rev. Desmond Paul Donovan was abducted by guerrillas on
j a n . 15 while he was about to celebrate mass at Govera in the
Chinamora tribal trust land (about 45 kilometres or 28 miles north
of Salisbury), where a curfew had been imposed on Jan. 13.
~ ~ ~M~ R~~~~ l , author of the report Frorn Rhodesia
l i ~ i d~d ~ ,lthe
10 Zirribabwe [see page 286501, had in October 1977 been barred
from returning to Rhodesia from England to take up a post of
economics lecturer at the University of Rhodesia in Salisbury.
Trealment of Captured Guerrillas
Early in 1978 the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) expanded its activities in Rhodesia on behalf o f war
victims (including residents o f the 183 "protected villages")