Portal:Zimbabwe/Featured biography/March 2008

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Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa (born on 14 April 1925) served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from the Internal Settlement to the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979. A Methodist bishop and nationalist leader, he held office for only a few months.[1]

In 1971 the British government struck a deal with Ian Smith that provided for a transition to majority rule in exchange for an end to sanctions against the government. Muzorewa joined with an inexperienced cleric, the Reverend Canaan Banana, to form the United African National Council (UANC) to oppose the settlement under the acronym No Independence Before Majority African Rule (NIBMAR).

The proposed referendum was withdrawn and Muzorewa found himself a national leader and an international personality. The liberation movements -- the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) of Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) of Joshua Nkomo -- both placed themselves under the UANC umbrella even though they had some doubts when Muzorewa founded a national party.

After ZANU, led by Robert Mugabe after disagreements with Sithole, and ZAPU undertook guerrilla warfare, the United African National Council was the only legal Black party since it rejected violence.