Tanzania and the 1976 Anglo-American Initiative for Rhodesia

As southern Africa became deeply embroiled in the Cold War after the decolonisation of Angola and Mozambique in 1975, President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania emerged as a key actor in the international diplomatic efforts aimed at bringing Rhodesia to independence. This article, based on Tanzanian, British and American archival sources, analyses the role played by President Nyerere within the context of the Anglo-American initiative for Rhodesia of 1976. In doing so, it sheds new light on the ambiguities surrounding Henry Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy in southern Africa and the factors that brought about the failure of the Geneva Conference (October and December 1976). Furthermore, the article also argues that Nyerere introduced important changes to the diplomatic initiative for Rhodesia set in motion by the British and American governments with the cooperation of South Africa. Afraid of a repetition of the Victoria Falls fiasco and fearing a civil war among the liberation movements, Nyerere insisted on the need for the British government to call a constitutional conference and to play an active role during Rhodesia’s transition to independence. However, together with Great Britain’s hesitancy, a leadership crisis within the Zimbabwe African National Union took Nyerere by surprise and delayed the negotiations in Geneva. When, finally, the British government advanced new proposals for Rhodesia’s transitional government, the parties refused to support them, sealing the fate of the Geneva Conference.