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CU Smith
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CU Smith speaks
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SMITH: "I'm unaware of the contents of the report. Many other people in the world seem to know all about it, but in all honesty I must tell you that at this stage I have not yet received my copy of the report. I hope that sometime this week I will be in a position to receive it. Therefore, it is not my intention to speculate what the content will be. Most people today dose to be specultin that the answer will be no. As I said in Bulawaye the other day, we are hoping for a "Yes", but if the answer is "No", perhaps I can just report what I said there. I nevertheless believe that tremendous benefits will have accrued to Rhodesia. You see, prior to coming to the agreement Rhodesia and the Rhodesian Government in particular had the reputation of being the implacable right-wing government when could never come to any agreement with anybody sales in the world. Well, today it shows to our credit that we came to agreement with the British government. Both Sir Alec Douglas-Home and myself signed this agreement stating that we believed it was the best possible agreement for the Rhodesian people. This will always stand to our credit. Moreover, from that day onwards I can assure you that there have been a number of significant break-thoughts in the economic war, and we believe the this will continue. We believe that we will be in infinitely stronger position even if the answer is "No" -- a stronger position than we were in before we made the agreement with the aritish government."




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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Rhodesian Prime Minister, Mr. Ian Smith, hello a news conference in Salisbury on Monday (May 8) and ruled out prospects for further negotiations with Britain if the Perce Commission report shows the majority of Rhodesian opinion is opposed to Anglo-Rhodesian settlement terms.

The peace Commission spent two months assessing the fesling of the different racial groups in the country and is currently compiling a report to the British Government.

Mr Smith described the opinion poll as a "complete and butter farce... one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen in my life."
He reiterated his view that the people as a whole supported the settlement terms but said he had not yet received a copy of the report.

But even if the report indicated a "No" vote, Rhodesia would be in a stronger position than before the Angle-Rhodesian agreement because there had been significant breakthroughs in the "economic war" against Rhodesia, Mr Smith added.