I am disappointed by the superficial comments made about the situation in Zimbabwe in the local press. I understand the position of Mr Lenoir who sees this as a black-white struggle, though the ambiguous positions of two diplomatic experts and the rush of the Mauritian government to hide behind the skirts of the SADC and President Mbeki of South Africa are far less comprehensible.

I certainly condemn the white only regime of Rhodesia and the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Ian Smith. However, there were far-sighted black African leaders such as Bishop Abel Muzorewa, the first Prime minister of Rhodesia-Zimbabwe who sought to bring about a government of national unity. Unfortunately his interim government lasted only a few months (late 1979-February 1980 when elections were held. These elections were far from free and fair and were characterized by violence and intimidation by the ZANU of which Mr Mugabe was now the leader. The ?outcome? was that he was elected President.

In October 1980, President Mugabe met with President Kim IL Sung of North Korea who provided hundreds of military experts to train what was to become known as the Fifth Brigade, a military element not controlled by the Zimbabwean army but directly under President Mugabe.

Then began an ethnic cleansing of the Ndebele speaking Matabele, a minority in Zimbabwe, whose leader, Joshua Nkomo, had been a companion in arms with Mugabe in the struggle for independence. The estimates of the Matabele killed range from 10,000 to 30,000. All this took place in the general indifference, as in Burundi-Rwanda, of the international community since, I presume, they were black Africans fighting black Africans.

<B>Peter CRAIG</B>