CENTRAL AFRICA THE CRUMBLING FEDERATION AS LONG AGO AS LAST DECEMBER, IT 
WAS OBVIOUS THAT THE SHAKY CENTRAL AFRICAN FEDERATION WAS NOT LONG 
FOR THIS WORLD . OBVIOUS, THAT IS, TO EVERYONE BUT THE 
FEDERATION'S PRIME MINISTER, BIG- BEEFY SIR ROY WELENSKY, WHO STOUTLY INSISTED 
THAT CONTINUED PRESENCE OF THE WHITE MAN IN AFRICA " DEPENDED 
ON THE MAINTENANCE OF THE UNION OF NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN RHODESIA 
. ROOM SULKERS . LOOKING HIS MOST BULLDOGGISH, AND GIVING A 
JAUNTY THUMBS-UP SALUTE, WELENSKY STORMED INTO LONDON LAST WEEK, PROPHESYING RUIN 
AND ANARCHY IF HIS WARNINGS WERE IGNORED . ASKED IF HE 
WOULD USE FEDERAL TROOPS TO PREVENT THE SECESSION OF BLACK-DOMINATED NORTHERN 
RHODESIA, SIR ROY REPLIED, " THE ONLY TIME ONE WOULD USE 
FORCE WOULD BE TO MAINTAIN LAW AND ORDER . ONE WOULD 
NOT STAND BY AND SEE THINGS SMASH . BUT IF YOU 
ARE ASKING ME WHETHER I WOULD USE FORCE TO KEEP THE 
TWO RHODESIAS TOGETHER, THE ANSWER IS NO, BECAUSE IT WOULD NOT 
WORK . " BY THE TIME WELENSKY CHECKED INTO THE HYDE 
PARK HOTEL, NATIONALIST KENNETH KAUNDA, TOP AFRICAN LEADER IN NORTHERN RHODESIA, 
HAD ALREADY ATTENDED HIS FIRST MEETING WITH BRITAIN'S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER 
R . A . BUTLER TO DECIDE THE FUTURE COURSE OF 
CENTRAL AFRICA . OF RAMBUNCTIOUS SIR ROY, KAUNDA SNEERED, " WE 
ARE HERE TO ROB HIM OF HIS JOB . YOU MIGHT 
MAKE HIM LORD BROKEN REED . " WITH RAB BUTLER, KAUNDA 
AND HIS FELLOW NATIONALIST, HARRY NKUMBULA, ARGUED FOR TWO HOURS NORTHERN 
RHODESIA'S RIGHT TO SECEDE, AND ASKED WHY THEIR COUNTRY SHOULD BE 
CONSIDERED " THE CINDERELLA OF CENTRAL AFRICA . " WHEN BUTLER 
REFUSED TO MAKE ANY PROMISES, THE TWO AFRICAN LEADERS WALKED OUT 
AND SULKED FOR TWO DAYS IN THEIR HOTEL ROOMS . POWER 
SEEKERS . THIS APPARENTLY WAS ENOUGH FOR RAB BUTLER . HE 
CALLED IN WELENSKY AND SOUTHERN RHODESIA'S PRIME MINISTER WINSTON FIELD, A 
LEAN, ENIGMATIC FARMER WHO IS LESS INTERESTED IN THE FATE OF 
THE FEDERATION THAN IN SEEING TO IT THAT SOUTHERN RHODESIA'S 221,000 
WHITES RETAIN POLITICAL CONTROL OF THE STATE'S 3,600,000 BLACKS . BUTLER 
ANNOUNCED BRITAIN'S DECISION : NO TERRITORY WOULD BE KEPT IN THE 
FEDERATION AGAINST ITS WILL . FURIOUS AT THIS " ACT OF 
BETRAYAL, " WELENSKY STALKED ANGRILY FROM BUTLER'S OFFICE AND PROMPTLY CANCELED 
A LUNCHEON ENGAGEMENT WITH PRIME MINISTER MACMILLAN, A SNUB WITHOUT PRECEDENT 
IN BRITISH COMMONWEALTH ANNALS . AT A NEWS CONFERENCE, HE STORMED 
THAT " THESE DECISIONS HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY HER MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT 
UNDER THREAT FROM MEN WHO SEEK POWER . THE PEOPLE OF 
CENTRAL AFRICA, BLACK AND WHITE ALIKE, ARE BEING BETRAYED TO THESE 
MEN ! " SOUTHERN RHODESIA'S FIELD TOOK THE NEWS IN STRIDE 
. NOW THAT THE FEDERATION WAS VIRTUALLY DISSOLVED, FIELD WANTED A 
BRITISH GUARANTEE OF INDEPENDENCE FOR SOUTHERN RHODESIA, AND PRESUMABLY A GUARANTEE 
OF ITS CONSTITUTION, WHICH IS RIGGED AGAINST THE BLACK MAJORITY . 
UNTIL SUCH GUARANTEES ARE GIVEN, SAID FIELD, HE WILL ATTEND NO 
MORE CONFERENCES . 