By-Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was instrumental in the liberation of Southern Rhodesia to become Zimbabwe has died.
He was 100.
Kissinger served as America’s top diplomat and national security adviser during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
His company, Kissinger Associates, a political consulting firm he founded, announced that the German-born former diplomat died at his home in Connecticut.
Probably a few know of his role in facilitating black majority rule in Southern Rhodesia, which later became Zimbabwe.
In 1976, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger became involved in negotiations to address the growing crisis in Southern Africa.
The white Rhodesian leader, Ian Smith, was resisting black majority rule, which threatened to escalate into a regional conflict involving other African states and apartheid South Africa. Kissinger was concerned that this conflict could become another front in the Cold War. He decided to intervene and seek a negotiated solution to end minority rule peacefully.
Kissinger conducted a series of talks with Smith, and South African Prime Minister B.J. Vorster also joined the discussions. The goal was to establish political and economic stability in Rhodesia that could withstand communist influence.
Smith eventually accepted the principle of majority rule, but no concrete results were achieved. Smith announced that his government had accepted Kissinger’s proposal for a black majority government within two years, but the war in Rhodesia continued.
The black movements in Rhodesia and the neighbouring frontline states (Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, and Botswana) insisted on a settlement based on their terms, while Smith refused to make further concessions.
The conflict persisted, with freedom fighters attacking on the front and retaliatory raids by Rhodesian forces on bases in neighbouring countries.
Finally, in March 1978, an agreement was reached that led to a transitional government. South African Prime Minister Vorster expressed willingness to cooperate with the new government on a neighbourly basis.
The negotiations led by Kissinger set the stage for the subsequent Lancaster House negotiations, which eventually resulted in the transition to black majority rule in Rhodesia. Robert Mugabe was the founding leader of Zimbabwe.