Exit Sighing

As the twelve leaders of the British Commonwealth gathered last week in London from all parts of the world, only one question obsessed editorialists and statesmen: Would they, or would they not, expel South Africa? Canada's John Diefenbaker asked for a Commonwealth declaration on the rights of man. regardless of race. .Ghana's messianic Kwame Nkrumah wanted the issue of apartheid threshed out, said: "If no one else raises the question. I think I shall have to." Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, the icy-eyed Prime Minister of South Africa, insisted to newsmen that apartheid (literally, apartness) was simply another name for neighborliness. Britain's Harold Macmillan tried to construct a typical British compromise. It was the nation of South Africa that belonged in the Commonwealth, he argued; the Verwoerd government and its apartheid policies might be only temporary. Besides, Commonwealth members should not concern themselves with the internal affairs of other members.

Round the green baize table in London's mirrored Lancaster House, Nkrumah. India's Nehru and Nigeria's Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa backed a proposal of Canada's Diefenbaker: they agreed not to press for a showdown on apartheid, provided that a communique permitted them to spell out. in general terms, their feelings about Verwoerd's racial policies.

All members conceded that Verwoerd, at the end of the communique, might say a few words in rebuttal. At stake, as all were aware, was the unity of the Commonwealth--an informal association that (including colonies and dependencies) covers one-fourth of the earth, carries on one-fourth of world trade and contains one-fourth of the world's people, 86 million whites and 600 million coloreds.

Adamantly Rigid. Dr. Verwoerd dashed any vagrant hopes of compromise. South Africa's internal policies, he said, were its own affair, and apartheid is not discrimination, merely a separate "development" of the races. Verwoerd further insisted that South Africa could not accept diplomatic representatives from colored states --even if they were members of the Commonwealth. It was argued that this made a complete mockery of Commonwealth membership.

Verwoerd. said an observer, "was completely rigid, absolutely adamant and just wouldn't budge.'' The other members were angry and disturbed; no one asked that he reverse his policies or amend them, just that he "take note'' of their criticisms. Instead, Verwoerd kept playing over and over the same record. Recalls one witness: "It got to be extremely irritating.

Everybody felt it. Nerves were frightfully on edge. The worst of it was that Verwoerd got more and more pleased with his own policies. He was never angry--just fanatical. He set himself up as a sort of smiling saint with a crusade, rather pitying the .others who couldn't see the light. It was a very grating experience."

Disintegration Ahead. No agreement was possible. Verwoerd and Macmillan retired to another room for a spot of tea. When they returned, tall, silver-haired Dr. Verwoerd had a statement in his hand. He read it: The Union of South Africa was withdrawing from the British Commonwealth, effective May 31, when it would become the independent Republic of South Africa.

Before flying home, Verwoerd told reporters his withdrawal marked the first step in "the disintegration of the Commonwealth.'' He would have been glad to remain a member, he said, but the "vindictiveness" and "spirit of hostility" shown by Canada and the Afro-Asian states convinced him that his country was "not welcome." South Africa's departure was balanced by the addition of Cyprus to the Commonwealth states. Next member-to-be: Sierra Leone, which will give the Commonwealth seven colored members, five white.

Pale and weary, Macmillan reported to Parliament his "deep regret" at the split. But in Britain and abroad, South Africa's exit was the occasion for (as Nehru put it) "relief, not elation." Malaya's Prime Minister Abdul Rahman stated the view of the Afro-Asians: "No man, because of his color, should be regarded as an outcast. We of the Commonwealth have proclaimed our stand to the world." The London Times saw the Commonwealth as now on "a secure multiracial basis," and the Guardian stated bluntly: "An unhealthy limb has been removed.''

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