Arduous Negotiations
On 8 November 1950, the first negotiations for a federal state for the Rhodesias and Nyasaland began. While many points of contention were worked out in the conferences that followed, several proved to be acute, and some, seemingly insurmountable. The negotiations and conferences were arduous. Southern Rhodesia and the Northern Territories had very different traditions for the 'Native Question' (black Africans) and the roles they were designed to play in civil society.
An agreement would likely not have been reached without Sir Andrew Cohen, CO Assistant Undersecretary for African Affairs. He became one of the central architects and driving forces behind the creation of the Federation, often seemingly singlehandedly untangling deadlocks and outright walkouts on the part of the respective parties.
Cohen, who was Jewish and traumatised by the Holocaust, was an anti-racialist and an advocate of African rights. But he compromised his ideals to avoid what he saw as an even greater risk than the continuation of the paternalistic white ascendancy system of Southern Rhodesia – its becoming an even less flexible, radical white supremacy, like the National Party government in South Africa. Historian Robert Blake writes, "In that sense, Apartheid can be regarded as the father of Federation."
It took nearly three years for the CAF to be established.
Read more about this topic: Federation Of Rhodesia And Nyasaland
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