Andrew Cohen (colonial Governor) - Rhodesia and Nyasaland

Rhodesia and Nyasaland

As Colonial Office Assistant Undersecretary for African Affairs, Cohen was involved in negotiations for a federal state for the Rhodesias and Nyasaland in 1950. The Jewish Cohen, traumatised by the Holocaust, was an anti-racialist and an advocate of African rights. However, he compromised his ideals to combat a threat that he perceived to be even more menacing: the risk that Southern Rhodesia, if it turned hostile, would fall into the orbit of the National Party government in South Africa.

To Cohen, the risk of radical Afrikaner white supremacy posed a greater menace than the perpetuation of the less inflexible, paternalistic white ascendancy system of Southern Rhodesia. Having come to terms with this compromise, Cohen went on to become one of the central architects and driving forces behind the creation of the Federation, often seemingly single-handedly untangling deadlocks and outright walkouts on the part of the respective parties.

The negotiations and conferences were indeed arduous. Southern Rhodesia and the Northern Territories had very different traditions when it came to the 'Native Question' (Africans) and the roles they were designed to play in civil society. Thus, it took nearly three years for the CAF to be established. And, once it was established, it proved to be "one of the most elaborately governed countries in the world."