Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Lt-Gen Walls gave Zim a torrid time

Lt-Gen Walls gave Zim a torrid time
By: By Alfred Mulenga
Posted: Monday, August 16, 2010 6:18 pm

IF THERE was any man, apart from rebel Rhodesian leader Ian Douglas Smith himself who gave black Zimbabwean freedom fighters operating from Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia a torrid time, it was Lieutenant-General Peter Walls, then commander of the Rhodesian security forces.

General Walls was so unrelenting in his determination to "search-and-destroy" Joshua Nkomo's and Robert Mugabe's Zipra and Zanla bases that he would unleash his ruthless troops in "hot pursuit" of the Soviet and Chinese trained guerrillas in the Frontline states.

I remember an incident in 1979 when white Rhodesian troops invaded Lusaka. We were at the Evelyn Hone College in Church Road, attending a journalism workshop when someone said "the Rhodesians are here, look!"

There they were in helicopters circling Lusaka with machine guns at the ready. Later that night they pounded a house, near State House, where Nkomo was staying in exile, but he had received intelligence and was not at home at the time.

In another blitz, the white Rhodesian troops raided Chikumbi military camp in Mkushi district, deep in central Zambia, killing hundreds of Zimbabwean freedom fighters and one of Zambia's foremost broadcasters and musicians Alick Nkhata.

The daring Rhodesian commandos were acting on strict orders from General Peter Walls who recently died in South Africa aged 83. In the spirit of reconciliation, Mugabe had retained Gen Walls after independence in 1980.

But according to information gleaned from Britain's Daily Telegraph, Mugabe was soon perturbed by reports that Walls was plotting a coup against him and his new regime. When he confronted Walls the general denied the reports, saying if such reports were true "you would be dead".

However the mood of suspicion in Harare prevailed and Walls found his position in black ruled Zimbabwe untenable and fled into exile in South Africa, where he found disgruntled former Rhodesian security forces openly accusing him of having thwarted "two attempts by special forces to assassinate Mugabe" shortly after elections.

A further bitter blow was the revelation that Smith, the man he had supported in the lead up to the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) blamed Walls for many of the failures of the transition and had actually accused him of "traitorous activities". Walls was born in Rhodesia in 1927 into a military family.

His father, George, had been a pioneer pilot in the colony and had volunteered for service with the Royal Air Force shortly after its formation. When Peter left Plumtree School, he already had his sights set on the army.

He volunteered for the British Army during the Second World War and attended the Staff College at Camberley. When the war ended he joined the Black Watch and was appointed Assistant Adjutant in the Highland Brigade Training Centre.

He resigned his commission when the Army transferred him, choosing, in his own words, "to return to my beloved Rhodesia rather than serve in any regiment other than the Black Watch". He later joined the Southern Rhodesian Staff Corps in the rank of corporal.

He went to Malaya during the military operations against the communist insurgency from 1951-1953 as a commander of "The Far Eastern Volunteer Group". It was composed of Rhodesian officers, who gained valuable experience in fighting a guerrilla war in hostile terrain.

Walls continued to shine, and in 1964 assumed command of the 1st Battalion, the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), a unit of tough young professional soldiers, which became famous in the bush war.

The sentiment in favour of UDI was growing among whites, alarmed by what they perceived as determination by the colonial power to hand over power to black majorities throughout its African territories.

Walls shared the mood, and allowed his men to wear paper hats inscribed with the words "RLI for UDI" on them, an act which won him a rare reproach from his commander at the time.

The move made him more popular among the politicians of the newly elected Rhodesian Front party led by Ian Smith. In 1972 Ian Smith approved the appointment of Walls as General Officer Commanding of the Rhodesian army.

Smith liked Walls and since he was preparing for his momentous declaration of independence he needed an army commander he could trust to support him.

Walls was quick to realise that UDI would mean an intensification of the guerrilla war from neighbouring countries, specifically Zambia and Botswana by Joshua Nkomo's largely Ndebele Zipra, and from Tanzania and Mozambique by Zanla, drawn from the majority Shona people.

Walls was made head of Joint Operations Command (JOC) in 1977 and assumed command of more than 45,000 men.

For a time, Rhodesian Special Forces attempted to take and hold key areas of Mozambique to halt the unceasing flow of guerrillas into Rhodesia.

Ian Smith and his Rhodesian Front (PF) party also realised that their only hope of survival rested in political negotiations. With the Tories' Margaret Thatcher in power anxious to rid herself of "this tiresome Rhodesian problem", Smith sought British mediation in the hope of political salvation.

The Lancaster House conference resulted in a British interregnum in Rhodesia, with Lord Soames as governor.

Walls, as head of the highly trained and experienced Rhodesian forces, found himself drawn inexorably into the political process. Contingency plans for the elections, which resulted from the Lancaster House agreement, were drawn up by the military in consultation with the Lord Soames.

The hope was that Bishop Muzorewa, the moderate Shona politician who had surprisingly won a previous election, would be able to hold Mashonaland while Joshua Nkomo, the moderate leader of the Ndebele, would comfortably hold his homeland in the west of the country.

The officially approved safety net beneath this hastily-arranged scheme was that Robert Mugabe would be "eliminated" should he win the election. But the contingency plan was never implemented in the confusion that arose after Mugabe's Zanu party swept the board with a convincing majority.

Walls immediately wrote to Thatcher calling for a new election, claiming that the imperfect "assembly point" plan for guerrillas to gather and hand in their weapons had not worked and that the insurgents had infiltrated most rural areas. His plea was in vain.

Thatcher wanted the long-running issue solved quickly, and Lord Soames was instructed to embrace a new black leader.

Lt-Gen Peter Walls settled in exile at Plettenburg Bay, on South Africa's Western Cape coast.

He died on July 20 and is survived by his wife and by four children from his first marriage.

(Sila Press Agency) Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)

Labels: IAN SMITH, LIBERATION, RHODESIA

posted by MrK @ 5:07 PM