A Question of Black Power

Seventeen of the 23 nations in the Commonwealth are predominantly black, brown or yellow. Thus, on the basis of membership alone, the Commonwealth might be expected to deal harshly with the rebel regime of Ian Smith in Rhodesia, where 220,000 whites now rule 4,000,000 black Africans. But British Prime Minister Har old Wilson has ruled out the use of force against Rhodesia, insisting that economic sanctions will compel Smith to back down. So this week, as the 16th Commonwealth conference begins in London, Wilson faces a crisis over Rhodesia that threatens to tear apart the British-reared family of nations.

Barely more than half of the chiefs of government are expected to attend. Many of the missing will be protesting Wilson's Rhodesia policy, which so far has failed to cripple the country's economy. The most vocal absentee: Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda, who threatens to leave the Commonwealth entirely unless a full-scale invasion is mounted to bring force against its southern neighbor. Another absentee, Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta, is almost equally adamant. Arriving in London for the conference, Sierra Leone's Sir Albert Margai offered Britain an alternative: either invade or turn the whole affair over to the United Nations. Failing that, warned Sir Albert, Sierra Leone might quit the Commonwealth. Other black African nations might well do the same. But Britain's military resources are already stretched thin, and public opinion in Britain would not tolerate use of force against "kith and kin" in Rhodesia. Moreover there are the Commonwealth's white members to consider: Australia's Harold Holt is dead set against the use of force.

Nor can Wilson get Smith to roll over and play dead--even for the few weeks before interest in the Common wealth conference blows over. In fact, fortnight ago Smith rebuffed some conciliatory gestures from Wilson by pressing ahead in the Rhodesian Parliament with a constitutional amendment that would empower police to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely without trial. At that, Wilson had no choice but to call back from Salisbury the two British diplomats who have been engaged in "talks about talks" that aimed at, among other things, securing constitutional guarantees for the personal liberties of black Rhodesians.

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