UN General Assembly
1967

131. I should like now to make a few remarks on Rhodesia. On 11 November 1965 a group of racists in the British colony of Rhodesia declared that colony to be independent and themselves the Government. The British Government — the legal sovereign authority - termed the action of Ian Smith and his followers an act of treason against the British Crown, and stated that Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom would have nothing to do with the rebels in Rhodesia. With the stated objective of ending this rebellion, the British Government took various political, economic and diplomatic measures against Rhodesia. Africa has supported these measures, but has continually called for stronger action because events in that country are of direct concern to the security of African States and the freedom and dignity of African peoples. But both before and after the rebellion, Her Majesty's Government assured every one of us that it was a matter for the British Government to deal with. In January 1966 it even told us that its measures against Rhodesia would be successful within a matter of weeks.