Office of the Historian

529. Memorandum From Ulric Haynes of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Komer)1

Washington, February 2, 1966.

RWK

FYI. The following are the main points of interest to come out of yesterday’s US–UK talks2 on the Rhodesian crisis:

1.
UK feels they can hold off Zambia’s participation in sanctions until the latter half of March (in spite of the Wilson-Kaunda previous agreement on a February 15 date).
2.
Rhodesia should run out of POL products in mid-April with serious distribution problems arising before that time.
3.
Sir Hugh Beadle predicts that white Rhodesian confidence in the Smith regime will crack when a complete POL cut-off occurs because of Smith’s assurances to his supporters that this would never happen.
4.
Coal from the Kandabwe mines will start reaching the Zambian Copper Belt at the rate of 15,000 tons per month by mid-February.
5.
During the period of Zambia’s participation in sanctions, there will be no copper production because available coal will be used exclusively to generate the power needed to keep the copper mines pumped out.
6.
UDI is now being referred to as “IDI” by the British, i.e., “Illegal Declaration of Independence.”
7.
According to British estimates, the chances are very slim for majority rule in Rhodesia even within five years after the end of IDI.
8.
The UK plans to hold a meeting around the end of February to determine how friendly governments and private foundations could help them in the rehabilitation of Rhodesia after IDI.
9.
Specific UK requests for US assistance:
a)
continuation of airlift support through the end of April;
b)
US assistance in calming down African governments when and if there is an increase in African pressures on the UK for the “quick kill.”

My general impression of the talks on Rhodesia is that the British are surprisingly optimistic about the success of their scenario. They are certainly much more optimistic than we are.3

Rick Haynes 4
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Haynes Files, Chrono (Haynes), 3/1/65–6/15/66. Confidential.↩
  2. The annual U.S.-U.K. talks on Africa were held in Washington February 1–3. The U.S. delegation was headed by Assistant Secretary Williams and the British delegation was headed by Sir Roger Allen, Deputy Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The discussions are recorded in memoranda of conversation in Department of State, Central Files, POL UK-US.↩
  3. A February 3 memorandum from Haynes to Komer summarizes items of interest raised during the concluding sessions of the talks. It states that the British indicated that they intended to rely on economic sanctions to bring down the Smith regime and did not want to use force because of the consequences to Zambia, the negative attitude of the British public, and the risk of more direct aid to Rhodesia from South Africa. They were prepared to use British forces after Smith’s downfall, however, if necessary to guarantee internal security. (Johnson Library, Name File, Haynes Memos)↩
  4. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩