News Update Place

Ian Smith, the former leader of white-ruled Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, has died in South Africa aged 88, a family friend said.

Smith imprisoned Mugabe when in power and remained a vocal opponent to his rule

Smith defied the world in 1965 when he led a quarter of a million white Rhodesians in a unilateral declaration of independence from Britain rather than accept proposals for black-majority rule.

He remained prime minister until a guerrilla war forced him to accept a ceasefire and political settlement in 1979.

Elections were held the following year, when Rhodesia became the black-ruled republic of Zimbabwe, with Robert Mugabe as prime minister.

Smith died on Tuesday at a clinic near the South African city of Cape Town, where he spent his final years, according to long-time friend Sam Whaley.

He had been ailing for some time and recently suffered a stroke.

SYMBOL

To many white Rhodesians, he was a kind of idol, but for most blacks, his rule symbolised the worst of racial oppression.

A former Royal Air Force pilot, he fought for Britain in the second world war, then rebelled against it 20 years later.

Smith imprisoned Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s current president, in 1964 for 10 years, calling him a “terrorist” intent on turning the country into a one-party dictatorship.

“We have never had such chaos and corruption in our country,” Smith said during a brief return to politics in 2000.

“What Zimbabweans are looking for is a bit of ordinary honesty and straightforwardness.”