1.
SV and CUs Mr Joshua Nkomo being interviewed by reporter Ian Black (3 shots)
1.50

2.
GV Dr Owen moves to rostrum to speak.
2.00

3.
CU Owen speaking.
3.26


NKOMO: "It was shot down by our men. We shot it down because we have been observing for quite some time now that these Viscounts are being used by the Rhodesian regime to ferry military personnel and equipment to Kariba or to the Victoria Falls, so they were exposed by that act, those people, are military targets."



BLACK: "In the event the government in Salisbury has claimed that 10 people were gunned down by ZIPRA forces."



NKOMO: "Of course that is nonsense. They are trying to conceal the fact that the plane was shot down. That's all they are trying to do. It was shot down by us. And they are trying to conceal that by saying the, er, the people were shot down. There is no substance."



BLACK: "Was the plane shot down by missiles, from the ground."



NKOMO: "It was shot down by what we used."



BLACK: "Mr Nkomo, you've been saying for some time that the talks that took place here with Ian Smith less than a month ago have some value; others have a different view of that."



NKOMO: "Others, say who? Say Julius Nyerere?"



BLACK: "Indeed."



NKOMO: "Listen, before you say others, there are no others, other than President Nyerere."



BLACK: "What are your feelings about his comments about the talks, which were of course held in private?"



NKOMO: "This is traditional, of course, for Tanzania to treat us in that manner. We are not surprised. Back in 1963, all sorts of things, so President Nyerere doesn't like me and ZAPU, we can take it. This is what he is trying to do."



BLACK: "If you thought there was value for your own country, and indeed for the future of the people, in further talks of that kind with Ian Smith, would you go ahead with them?"



NKOMO: "I don't ask for license from other people, you know. I do what I think is useful for my country. And I'm not going to be told by anybody, look, don't do this, don't do that."



OWEN: "Time for a negotiated settlement is running out. The seeds of destruction are obvious to everyone. But the seeds of settlement are not as well recognised. And I wish to draw attention to the possibilities, and to the hope. In recent weeks and months the Rhodesia question has moved into a phase of Private, even secret, diplomacy Even now it is wiser for some things to be left unsaid, though I will not hesitate to publish in full proposal if I think it will help. Through hours and hours of meetings, in London, Salisbury, Lusaka, Malta, Dar-es-Salaam, New York, and the future, to name only some of the meeting places, the proposals which Britain and America put forward on the first of September, a year ago now, have been modified, enlarged, adjusted and developed. Now, if only the parties would courageously Seize the opportunities within days the Security Council resolution could be passed. An order in Council could be laid before Parliament and sanctions could be lifted, a ceasefire declared, an irrevocable transitional process started towards an independent Zimbabwe."




Initials RM/0330



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In Zambia Joshua Nkomo, leader of the Patriotic Front guerrilla forces, has claimed that his men were responsible for the crash of a Rhodesian airliner in which 38 people died. But he denied the guerrillas ???hot dead 10 survivors. Meanwhile in London British Foreign Secretary Dr David Owen has called for acceptance of the Angle-American proposals for a peaceful settlement of the Rhodesian war. Mr. Nkomo was interviewed by Ian Black of the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

SYNOPSIS: Dr Owen's call for acceptance of the Anglo-American peace proposals was made during a speech at the Commonwealth Institute in London.