Atlanta Daily World

Northern Rhodesia Campaign Already Hot

LUSAKA, Northern Rhodesia (UPI) The first general elections in Northern Rhodesia are scheduled for October but the election campaign already has spilled over the territory's borders.

Tanganyika is openly supporting anti-federation forces and Katanga is said to be financing at least one African party which is not hostile to the federation.

Apart from foreign interference, African hopes of presenting a united front are dwindling fast.

Recently, a third African party announced it will contest the elections by sponsoring 30 candidates, including five Europeans and a senior tribal chief.

Three African-led and two European dominated parties will contest for the legislative assembly's 45 elected seats.

SIMILAR PROBLEM

Observers say it is a foregone conclusion that if the African mass United National Independence Party (UNIP) led by Kenneth Kaunda, wins a substantial number of seats in the new assembly, Northern Rhodesia will present the Central African Federation with the same problem Nyasaland has by threatening to secede.

Kaunda's UNIP is a staunch opponent of the federation in its present form,

The African front, however, is split. Harry Nkumbula's African National Congress has not made a clear stand on the federation issue while the Central African People's Union, the third African contestant, is led by Dixon Konkola, an elected member of the federal parliament in Salisbury.

Both parties are said to be financed by the Katanga government and the British South African Company, which owns most of the mining companies exploiting the territory's mineral wealth.

Despite their joint opposition to UNIP the two other African parties have so little in common, chiefly because of a clash of personalities, that an alliance between ANC and CAPU is not expected.

Observers say that ANC may even prefer joining hands with the United Federal Party of federal premier Sir Roy Welensky.