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CU Mr. Van Der Byl, Rhodesian Foreign Minister, PULL BACK TO SV Mr. Van Der Byl speaking
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SV PAN Newsmen and cameramen
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SV Mr. Van Der Byl speaking ZOOM TO CU
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SV Newsmen taking notes
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SV Van Der Byl speaking
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VAN DER BYL: "We, the Rhodesian government, made our concessions before we came here. The Anglo-American proposals are not, as has been described by others, simply a useful basis for discussion, or useful basis for negotiation. They were a solemn undertaking entered into by us, and in terms of that we came to Geneva in order to implement them. To implement them meant setting up the provisional government, the first stage of the provisional government, and discussing and negotiating on those issues which were entirely germane to that question and not to spend five weeks, as we have, on peripheral issues. We did not come here to argue the nature of the interim government, but merely to set up the first stage of its existence. We now have, and you have too, the latest statement of the Mugabe and Nkomo faction. It is almost a parody, a music hall caricature of Communist invective. And to add further to the matter, I now understand that Mugabe has had an interview with the BBC in London, where this bloodthirsty Marxist puppet, which is indeed what he is, has threatened that if he should come to power, to arraign anybody who has been associated with the Rhodesian government before people's courts, and you all know what that means. But if it merely applied to members of the Government, the world could perhaps shrug it off. But, of course, the words were 'anyone who's been associated with the Rhodesian government'."




Initials BB/2249


EUROVISION TELERECORDING

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Rhodesia's Foreign Minister, Mr. Pieter Van Der Byl, said in Geneva on Tuesday (30 November) that his government had not gone to Switzerland to argue the nature of an interim government for Rhodesia during the transition to majority rule, but to set up the first stage of its existence. The Rhodesian delegation has been critical of the amount of time spent discussing possible dates for legal independence for the country. Mr. Van Der Byl also said the Rhodesian delegation had not attended to waste time on peripheral issues.