Shuttling Between Black and White

Scores of soldiers and police, as well as an all-black honor guard, were on hand to greet Henry Kissinger as he arrived in the South African capital of Pretoria late last week on the third stop of his latest effort at shuttle diplomacy. All week long sporadic rioting had continued in the nonwhite townships around Johannesburg and Cape Town, and a department store in downtown Johannesburg was fire-bombed--the first such act of urban terrorism in the country's history. Shortly before Kissinger's blue and white 707 touched down, police fired at demonstrators in Johannesburg's Soweto township, killing six students and wounding 35. In no time, rumors were circulating in London, New York and elsewhere that the Secretary had been assassinated. Paraphrasing Mark Twain, Kissinger quickly retorted that the reports of his "having been shot were grossly exaggerated."

Brutal Talk. The Secretary did not find many opportunities for jocularity in his attempt to head off by negotiation the racial Armageddon that seems to be looming in southern Africa. Tanzania's President Julius Nyerere had announced that he was not "particularly encouraged" by Kissinger's mission. Zambia's President Kenneth Kaunda had declared that Kissinger might have "only a few days, not weeks," to succeed in averting a black-white war.

When Kissinger arrived in Pretoria, he had no expectation of bringing about any change in South Africa's cherished system of apartheid, or "separate development." But he was anxious to see whether a round of sustained negotiation could end the impasse over Rhodesia, whose white minority government broke away from British rule eleven years ago. And he was particularly hopeful that if all else failed, he could achieve some measured progress on Namibia, or South West Africa, the onetime League of Nations territory that South Africa has ruled since 1920.

South African Prime Minister John Vorster made it clear from the beginning that his discussions with Kissinger would not deal with South Africa itself. If Vorster is determined to maintain white rule at home, he is also convinced, however, that it can no longer be upheld in either Rhodesia or Namibia. By agreeing to a transition to majority rule in those territories, he believes South Africa can gain enough time for itself to build lasting ties with its black neighbors. At Zurich two weeks ago, Vorster hinted to Kissinger that he was prepared to step up the pressure on Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith. Accordingly, Vorster last week treated Smith to a Dutch uncle talk that one diplomat described as "tough to the point of brutality." Evidently, he warned Smith that Pretoria's future capacity for helping Rhodesia will be increasingly limited. As Smith well knows, an estimated $100 million worth of Rhodesian bulk exports of corn, minerals and tobacco are already held up on the Rhodesian side of the border for lack of space on South Africa's crowded rail lines to carry them to the sea.

Be Honest. Smith left the meeting looking pale and angry. He took off immediately for the Rhodesian border town of Umtali, where the annual congress of his Rhodesian Front Party was under way. Though it seems hard to imagine, Smith is a moderate by Rhodesian standards, and at Umtali he faced a right-wing revolt led by Party Chairman Desmond Frost, who would like to split Rhodesia into black and white sectors under overall white control. After six hours of speechmaking and debate, Smith forced the issue in a dramatic scene. "Are you with me or are you not?" he demanded. "For God's sake, be honest!" He won a five-minute standing ovation, after which the congress voted unanimously to give him "a free hand to negotiate in future on behalf of all Rhodesians."

Soon Smith was on his way back to South Africa for a Saturday rugby match --and, as it turned out, the meeting he wanted with Henry Kissinger. Previously, the Secretary had said he would talk to Smith only if he were assured in advance of "major progress." In the end, he agreed to a Sunday morning meeting in order to sustain the momentum of his mission.

On Namibia, Kissinger had reason to hope for some genuine progress. South Africa is already committed to the principle of Namibian independence, and last month a constitutional conference in Windhoek, the Namibian capital, settled on Dec. 31, 1978, as the date for the transfer of power. The biggest snag is that the negotiators at Windhoek did not include any representatives of the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO), the liberation--and guerrilla --movement that is recognized by the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity as the sole representative of the Namibian people. Kissinger's first chore was to try to get South Africa and SWAPO together over the same conference table, perhaps in Geneva.

Kissinger's shuttle got off to an inauspicious beginning last week when he landed at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. On arrival, he found the Tanzanian government less receptive to his mission than he had hoped. Student demonstrators, obviously acting with government acquiescence, greeted the Secretary with signs branding him a "cynical murderer." Later, after five hours of talks, President Nyerere told newsmen that he felt "even less hopeful" about Namibia than he had been before. But at the very least, Nyerere remarked, the mission would clarify U.S. views on southern Africa. In that sense, he added, "a shuttle of clarity is not a shuttle of failure."

Majority Rule. Kissinger's second host, Zambia's President Kaunda, was more enthusiastic. Kaunda, an emotional idealist, wept as he spoke of the seemingly inexorable slide of southern Africa toward bloodshed and war. "We demand what is right and fair and just to all men," he added, pledging his country to fight, "to the last man if necessary," for majority rule in Zimbabwe, the African name for Rhodesia. At the end of their discussions, Kaunda observed of Kissinger: "His heart is in the right place, and he has our prayers." The Secretary responded that he would return to Lusaka after his visit to Pretoria "to report to you, and I pray for all of us that I can bring you encouraging news." At week's end, as Kissinger proceeded with his talks in South Africa and prepared to report back to Kaunda, Nyerere and other African leaders on his way home, it was uncertain whether he would have much encouragement to offer.

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