UN General Assembly
1969

rebellion through the use of force The United Kingdom resisted even the idea of using force and embarked on a series of abortive negotiations with the rebels before resorting to the ineffective application of economic sanctions. 64. While economic sanctions have failed to topple the Smith régime, the fascist Rhodesian front is proceeding with the enforcement of a system of apartheid more repugnant than the South African system, having severed all links with Britain and declaring that the country would become a republic with a proposed racist constitution depriving the African population of their fundamental human rights and conferring title to half the land upon 5 per cent of the population—that is, the white minority. 65. We consider that the only effective solution of the Rhodesian question short of the immediate use of force to end the rebellion is the imposition of mandatory sanctions on the whole of southern Africa. However, Britain has made it quite clear that it is not ready to use force nor ready to agree to a total embargo for political, legal and