Former Rhodesian Leader Ian Smith Dies

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

The former leader of white-ruled Rhodesia, Ian Smith, has died in South Africa aged 88, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported on its Web site on Tuesday. 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 remained vocal in opposition to Mugabe, even after the parliamentary seats reserved for whites were abolished in 1987.

The former Rhodesian leader moved to Cape Town four years ago for health reasons and it was not immediately possible to independently confirm the report of his death.

Over the years, Mugabe has suggested his government could have hanged Smith and his closest allies for war crimes and human rights abuses.

"If we were vindictive, if we had not pursued a policy of reconciliation for which our detractors don't give us any credit, that head that Smith carries should have been chopped," Mugabe has repeatedly said.

Officials in Mugabe's government said on Tuesday that Smith -- who in 1976 declared he didn't believe in black majority rule, "not in a thousand years" -- would not be missed.

"Smith will not be mourned or missed here by any decent person because he was an unrepentant racist whose racist stance and opposition to our independence caused a war, and he was responsible for a lot of deaths and suffering," Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told Reuters.

Mugabe, who is battling a severe economic crisis blamed on his policies, dismisses white Zimbabweans opposed to his rule as hankering for Smith's racist Rhodesia.

"They say Rhodesians never die and that Rhodesia will live forever, but here we killed Rhodesia and Zimbabwe shall never be a colony again," he said at a rally earlier this year.

The white population, which is estimated to have shrunk to about 40,000, has kept a low political profile after an often violent farm seizure campaign by Mugabe's supporters which started seven years ago.

Although Smith managed to hold onto his own farm, he said the farm seizures proved Mugabe was a terrorist and a communist who should never have been allowed to assume power.

"We were right, and the world can see that this is an absolute disaster," he said in an interview before his death.