Wednesday, April 30th 1975.

Footage of an excerpt of a speech given by Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia, in which he warned Rhodesians against putting too much faith in detente.

Smith, under who Rhodesia proclaimed UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence), was speaking on the day of the fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. This was the surrender by South Vietnamese forces to the People's Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong.

Transcript:

"Look that detente has meant for the people of South Vietnam. Where did that exercise go wrong? They were gullible enough to put their trust in the promises of those with whom they were negotiating. And what is their redress now? What can the greatest military power on this earth do to recover the situation which developed because they dropped their guard without covering themselves against the possibility -- indeed probability in this world of double standards -- that the other side would not honour their part of the agreement. what use is it in this present world of complaining that the other party did not abide by the rules of the game. You will be told that if you were gullible enough to let them take you for a ride, that's your hard luck. Let us be honest with ourselves. In this world we live in today there are no rules to the games As we know from recent history in other parts of the world, sometimes your own best friends walk out on you.

"In this part of the world the communists are doing their utmost not only to so bewilder Rhodesians that they will turn against each other, but also to drive a wedge between Rhodesia and South Africa. In this campaign they are aided and abetted by the press. Day after day I am completely amazed at the distortion and slanting that is printed in ?? many newspapers. Speculation which has no bearing on the truth and which is deliberately exaggerated to create alarm in people's minds.

Recently they have led people to believe that Rhodesia is the major obstacle to detente and that as a result of this the South African People have become disenchanted with Rhodesia and the South African Government is about to ditch us. They go so far as to say that they know what is going on in the mind of the South African Prime Minister, That he and his Government are pressuring us and that as a result an about-face in our policy is imminent. However, when one reads the speeches that have been made by the South African Prime Minister in Parliament during recent months, these completely debunk the stories that have appeared in the news media. When the press accuses Rhodesia of being the main obstacle to detente you'll note that they deal in vague generalities because it's impossible for them to pinpoint any area in the detente exercise where the interests of our two countries do not detente exercise where the interests of our two countries do not coincide."