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South Africa, too, was aroused over the murder of its nationals. Prime Minister John Vorster, who has been urging Smith to negotiate a settlement on black majority rule, warned the terrorists not to go too far. Killing innocent tourists, he said, "can only unleash forces which could have far-reaching effects." Increasingly, South Africans were worried about the growing Rhodesian crisis. Editorialized Johannesburg's Rand Daily Mail: "Having let slip one chance after another of reaching an accommodation with more moderate black leaders, Rhodesia's whites seem to have made the tragic choice of facing black nationalism over the barrel of a gun rather than the conference table. The downhill road toward a race war in Rhodesia is becoming increasingly slippery with blood."
Smith's intransigence—and how to deal with it—will be a top-priority matter for discussion this week when Secretary of State Henry Kissinger begins a two-week swing through the black African nations of Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire, Ghana, Liberia and Senegal. Before leaving Washington, Kissinger said he would stress both U.S. commitment to a policy of black majority rule in Rhodesia and U.S. determination to prevent further Soviet or Cuban involvement in African affairs.
But time may be growing short for a peaceful transition to black rule in Rhodesia. Across the 800-mile-long border with Mozambique, 3,000 armed, trained and increasingly bold black Rhodesian guerrillas stand ready to attack. At least 5,000 more, in a half-dozen camps, are being trained by Chinese and Mozambican advisors to make deadly forays back into their white-dominated homeland.