admin
The Rhodesia Herald,
March 10, 1978
LUSAKA. – The Zambian President Dr Kenneth Kaunda has accused Britain, the US, and West Germany of violating human rights by their inaction in Southern Africa.
He charged that the three western powers had failed to support black majority rule and self-determination in this part of the world.
They were pre-occupied and obsessed by Russian and Cuban influence in Africa, the Zambian leader said.
He was speaking at a ceremony to accept the credentials of the new British High Commissioner to Zambia, Mr Walter Allison, yesterday.
Western democracies were on trial, President Kaunda said. He challenged the West to move away from “mere rhetoric” and put their human rights campaign into practice.
“They have to show Africa when they speak of human rights they mean both words and action. No man in ‘Zimbabwe’, ‘Namibia’ or ‘South Africa’ needs a communist to come and tell him he is being oppressed,” Dr Kaunda said.
A “racial holocaust” was inevitable in the subcontinent unless the West “talked less and did more,” he said.
The internal settlement and Rhodesia would not bring peace to Rhodesia or Southern Africa, President Kaunda said.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
- When you notice something that is wrong, your action will dictate how strongly you feel about the issue.
- Voicing over something that is wrong does not always bring the desired results. At times, the solution to an issue requires action.
- Western powers have always employed double standards when it comes to African nations. The only time they express concern over human rights is when it suits them or their allies.
- The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the best example of such double standards by the west. In 2011, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed in cold blood by the United States and its Nato allies, and it was like a non-issue. Today, people of colour living or studying in Ukraine are being maligned when everyone has the right to safety.
Online Reporter