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GV Policemen outside Launcaster House
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GV PAN Delegates cars arriving (4 SHOTS)
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GV INTERIOR Press room
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SCU British spokesman Nicholas Finn speaking in English
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FINN: "At the outset of the ???eeting, the Lord Privy Seal, as had been indicated by the Chairman last night, offered some responses from the British delegation to the questions that had been raised at yesterday's session by Mr. Mugabe. Mr. Mugabe, said Sir Ian, had said that the British government accepted the right of the future government of Zimbabwe to modify the institutions of government. And Sir Ian, on that point, drew an important distinction: the future parliament of independent Zimbabwe can, he said, if there are sufficient votes as specified in the Constitution, modify the institutions of government. At the same time, the independence constitution will give to the government powers of appointment in relation to senior officers of the public service and defence forces, subject, in some cases, to an obligation to inform parliament. The position of the British government on these questions is exactly as stated in the Independence Constitution."




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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Chief Justice of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, Mr. Hector Macdonald, has said he would, in certain circumstances, not wish to serve after the Sir Ian Gilmour, relayed Mr. Macdonald's statement to the Zimbabwe Rhodesia peace talks in London on Tuesday (6 November). Mr. Macdonald was in London recently while the talks were going on. Sir Ian said Mr. Macdonald and two other judges of the African nation's Appellate Division would not, under the unspecified circumstances, wish to serve after independence.

SYNOPSIS: The talks are in their ninth week at Lancaster House. Tuesday's session was to last two hours of often-heated discussions on the future of the judiciary, public services, the police and armed force under the new government which would come to power after elements in an independent Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The Popular Front leaders, Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe, have said some elections, which they called undesirable, in these four groups, should be purged before legal independence. The British spokesman, Nicholas Finn, later told newsmen about other Popular Front opinions.