African Leaders Nix Pact

African leaders meeting in Lusaka, Zambia nixed a proposal sponsored by American-British interests which would have paved the way for a peaceful settlement with Zimbabwe (Rhodesian) nationalists.

The leaders of the countries which rest on the borders of Zimbabwe (Botswana, Mozambique, Angola and Zambia) rejected a proposal stalling majority rule in Zimbabwe for at least two years.

The African leaders - Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Samora Machel of Mozambique, Kenneth Kuanda of Zambia, Agostinho Neto of Angola, and Sir Seretse Khama of Botswana - were working under the assumption that peace in Africa would come with the immediate termination of white minority rule in Zimbabwe.

The leaders have asked the British to set up a constitutional conference with the goal of setting up an interim multi-racial government, expected to be headed by Joshua Nkomo, leader of one of the wings of Zimbabwe's African National Council.