On 6 December 1977, Zambian President Kenneth David Kaunda refused to take part in talks that only involved the so-called moderates in Zimbabwe, excluding the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Zimbabwe African People Union (ZAPU).
Abel Muzerewa, Ndabaningi Sithole and James Chikerema, all “moderate nationalists” in the resistance movement, signed an agreement with the racist Ian Smith Rhodesian regime that was to be known as an “Internal Settlement” on 3 March 1978.
Kenneth Kaunda was considered a key figure in the continuing conflict between Zimbabwean liberation movements and Ian Smith’s racist Rhodesia. Zambia offered military bases for both Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe African People Union (ZAPU).
Following the assassination of Hebert Chitepo, in Lusaka, in 1975, ZANU and its military wing, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), under the leadership of Josiah Tongogara, grew suspicious of Kaunda and left Zambia to seek asylum in Mozambique in 1976. Once safely ensconced in Mozambique, ZANLA increased the number of attacks on Rhodesia, engaging Smith’s forces along the eastern frontier for much of 1977.
ZAPU’s military wing, the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) continued to launch its attacks on the western border, with bases in Tanzania, Angola and Zambia. It was these attacks during 1977 that forced Smith to agree to talks at the end of 1977.
Thes
