But Beneath the Calm, Africans Harbor Deep Grievances Against Smith Regime - The African quarters of the towns of Rhodesia are quiet these days. But quiet can mean many things. A satisfied man is quiet. So is a cowed man. And so is the eye of a storm. An African businessman, guiding me through his shop, makes a point of this. "Just because a man keeps quiet does not mean he has nothing to say," he says, a tinge of bitterness in his voice. White Rhodesians, who defied Britain by declaring independence two years ago, like to boast about their support from Africans. According to the litany, Africans enjoy life under minority white rule in Rhodesia and scorn all left-wing agitation to change the course of human events. To test the truth of the litany, I have just spent two days visiting the African townships of Bulawayo, Rhodesia's second largest city. The townships are residential areas owned by the city and set aside by law for African workers...

Dispute Turns on Majority Rule by Black Africans - Two years ago Rhodesia declared its defiant independence from Britain. Since then, Britain and Rhodesia have locked in a war of sanctions, constitutional principles and legalisms, all so obscure and complex and tangled that outsiders and even insiders sometimes forget what the fight is all about. But the issue is simple. It is the dominance of one race over another, the resolve of Prime Minister Ian Smith and the quarter of a million whites to keep power as long as possible from the country's 4 million Africans. That is why it is pointless to ask a question like, Do sanctions hurt Rhodesia? The question has to be, Do sanctions hurt white Rhodesians enough to make them overcome their distaste and relinquish some power to the Africans? For the same reason, it is pointless to ask, Will the British government settle with Rhodesia? The question has to be, Can the British government, with all its commitments to independent Black Africa, afford to sign an agreement that fails to provide African rule in Rhodesia in the foreseeable future...?

The possibility of a settlement between Rhodesia and Britain grew dimmer Friday as British Commonwealth Secretary George Thomson reported that the two have more differences now than ever before. That pessimistic note came from Thomson at a news conference before he left for London to report to Prime Minister Harold Wilson about his 10 hours of talks with Prime Minister Ian D. Smith of Rhodesia. Thomson's words pricked the ballooning hopes here that the two-year-old sanctions war against Rhodesia would end soon. Britain and the United Nations imposed trade restrictions on Rhodesia after the ruling white minority of the colony declared its independence in defiance of Britain. Hopes had been raised here on rather slight and ephemeral evidence. Some residents, for example, read significance into a remark of Smith that Thomson "seems to be a pretty decent sort of a Scotsman." But, though he told newsmen "I'm hopeful," Thomson made it clear that a settlement would have to be based on more than amiability...

Romantic Air Solidifies Smith Regime and Encourages Single-Minded Position - White Rhodesians like to evoke a romantic air these days, linking themselves to heroic times of the past. "This is our Dunkirk," they will say, or "our 1776," or even "our Battle of Thermopylae." War is their favorite image. A prim, dour financier tells you proudly: "There's been no bloodshed but this is war." His tone brings back the days when men associated war with valor and glory, not slaughter and terror. This air of romance works to solidify the white government of Prime Minister Ian Smith in its defiance of Britain and the United Nations. The atmosphere encourages extreme positions and single-mindedness. People who believe they are fighting for a heroic cause are determined to have their way - and their way now is independence under white control, no matter what the cost, no matter how much sanctions may hurt some day. Rhodesians seem to relish their extreme positions...

New Draft Constitution by Smith Regime Expected to Perpetuate White Domination. The rebellion of 250,000 white Rhodesians against Britain is so dramatic it is easy to forget that 4 million Africans also live in Rhodesia. It is especially easy to forget in Salisbury, a modern city of 315,000 that looks like a city in the western United States, with new office buildings, crowded shops and wide streets. The Africans, who make up more than half the city's population, work at little-noticed jobs during the day and disappear into their townships on the rim of the city at night. The Negro presence in Salisbury is never obtrusive. Yet Rhodesia and Salisbury are part of Africa - a fact that may be decisive as far as Rhodesia's future is concerned...

But Sanctions, Inflationary Threat Not Enough to Topple Smith Regime at Present - Sanctions are beginning to depress the economy of Rhodesia but not enough to bring the government down or change its policies in the foreseeable future. Now, two months after the United Nations joined Britain in imposing sanctions on Rhodesian exports, the strains on the economy still cause no real hardship to the average white Rhodesian. Some businessmen and financiers are uneasy about the future - they see the potential of runaway inflation - but only when they look several years ahead. This means that, for some time to come, the government of Prime Minister Ian D. Smith can continue to defy Britain and the United Nations with almost the solid backing of white Rhodesians. Beyond that, nothing is clear...