page_title: Geneva Conference (1976)
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Geneva Conference (1976) / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: bromide print
context_page_description: The Geneva Conference took place in Geneva, Switzerland during the Rhodesian Bush War. Held under British mediation, its participants were the unrecognised government of Rhodesia, led by Ian Smith, and a number of rival Rhodesian black nationalist parties: the African National Council, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa; the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe, led by James Chikerema; and a joint "Patriotic Front" made up of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union and the Zimbabwe African People's Union led by Joshua Nkomo. The purpose of the conference was to attempt to agree on a new constitution for Rhodesia and in doing so find a way to end the Bush War raging between the government and the guerrillas commanded by Mugabe and Nkomo respectively.
  The Geneva Conference had its origins in the South African "détente" policy instituted in late 1974, and more directly in the peace initiative headed by the United States Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, earlier in 1976. After the Kissinger plan was rejected by the nationalists, talks were organised in Geneva by Britain to try to salvage a deal.
context_section_description: Following a dispute over the terms for the granting of full statehood, the predominantly white minority government of Rhodesia, headed by Prime Minister Ian Smith, unilaterally declared independence from Britain on 11 November 1965. Because British prime minister Harold Wilson and Whitehall had been insisting on an immediate transfer to majority rule before independence, this declaration went unrecognised and caused Britain and the United Nations (UN) to impose economic sanctions on Rhodesia.
  The two most prominent black nationalist parties in Rhodesia were the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU)—a predominantly Shona movement, influenced by Chinese Maoism—and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), which was Marxist–Leninist, and mostly Ndebele. ZANU and its military wing, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), received considerable backing in training, materiel and finances from the People's Republic of China and its allies, while the Warsaw Pact and associated nations, prominently Cuba, gave similar support to ZAPU and its Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA). ZAPU and ZIPRA were headed by Joshua Nkomo throughout their existence, while the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole founded and initially led ZANU. The two rival nationalist movements launched what they called their "Second Chimurenga" against the Rhodesian government and security forces during the mid-1960s. The army, air force and police successfully repulsed numerous guerrilla incursions, most of which were perpetrated by ZIPRA, over the rest of that decade.
  After abortive talks between Smith and Wilson in 1966 and 1968, a constitution was agreed upon by the Rhodesian and British governments in November 1971; however, when a British test of Rhodesian public opinion was undertaken in early 1972, black opinion was judged to be against the new deal, causing it to be shelved. The Rhodesian Bush War suddenly re-erupted in December 1972, after two years of relative inactivity, when ZANLA attacked Altena and Whistlefield Farms in north-eastern Rhodesia. After a successful security force counter-campaign during 1973 and 1974, drastic changes in the foreign policy of the Rhodesian government's two main backers, Portugal and South Africa, caused the conflict's momentum to shift in the nationalists' favour. In April 1974, the Portuguese government was overthrown by a military coup and replaced with a leftist administration in favour of ending the unpopular Colonial War in Angola, Mozambique and Portugal's other African territories.
  The institution by Pretoria of a détente initiative in late 1974 forced a ceasefire in Rhodesia, and in June 1975 Mozambique became independent from Portugal under a communist government allied with ZANU. Unsuccessful rounds of talks were held between the Rhodesian government and the nationalists, united under the banner of Abel Muzorewa's African National Council, across the Victoria Falls Bridge in August 1975, then directly between the government and ZAPU starting in December 1975. Around this time, Robert Mugabe replaced Sithole as ZANU leader, winning an internal leadership election which Sithole refused to recognise. Guerrilla incursions picked up strongly in the first months of 1976, leading Smith to declare on the evening of 6 February 1976 that "a new terrorist offensive has begun and, to defeat it, Rhodesians will have to face heavier military commitments." Security force reports indicated that around 1,000 insurgent fighters were active within Rhodesia, with a further 15,000 encamped in various states of readiness in Mozambique.
caption: British prime minister Harold Wilson came to loggerheads with Smith over the issue of Rhodesian independence during 1964 and 1965.[1]
exif: {"Image ExifOffset": "26", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated"}