Zimbabwe, Mozambique Plotted to Oust Malawi Regime, S. Africa Charges

The South African government accused Mozambique and Zimbabwe on Thursday of plotting to overthrow the conservative government of Malawi, the only African country with full diplomatic relations with Pretoria, and it warned them of “serious trouble” if they proceed with the alleged plot.

Foreign Minister Roelof F. (Pik) Botha told a press conference here that a document outlining the plan was found in the wreckage of the plane crash that killed President Samora M. Machel of541945722South Africa on Oct. 19.

Angered by Malawi’s apparent support for the rightist Mozambique National Resistance, whose guerrillas recently launched an offensive from Malawi territory, Machel proposed the overthrow of President H. Kamuzu Banda by a “Malawi Liberation Front,” according to Botha.

Quoting from what he said were the minutes of a two-hour meeting of Machel with top Zimbabwe officials three days before his death, Botha said the Mozambican president had won their support for a general offensive against the rightists and for the ouster of Banda, who was described as a “fascist” and “criminal.”

‘Wasn’t Just Idle Talk’

“It was imminent,” Botha said. “They were in a big hurry, and some of the plans were already being implemented. . . . This wasn’t just idle talk.”

Botha said that South Africa has formally demanded explanations from Mozambique and Zimbabwe of “these diabolical and very dangerous plans,” and he warned them that “the whole of southern Africa will pay a heavy price if these plans are put into operation.”

“I think they have a pretty good idea now of how far they can go without inviting severe trouble, real trouble,” he said, referring to Mozambique but refusing to say what action South Africa would take to protect Malawi.

There was no immediate comment from either Mozambique, where Machel’s successor as president, Joaquim Chissano, was inaugurated Thursday, or from Zimbabwe. Malawi, which has been informed of the alleged conspiracy, also had no immediate comment.

According to Botha, troops from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, advised by Soviet and Cuban officers and supported by fighter-bombers and helicopter gunships, had already begun massing along the Zambezi River in Mozambique near the border with Malawi in preparation for an attack. Malawi is bounded by Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania.

Destruction of Bridges

He said the plan also called for infiltration of Malawi’s police and army; for the destruction of strategic bridges, cutting it off from its neighbors, and then for a military coup to overthrow the autocratic Banda, who has ruled Malawi throughout its 20 years of independence.

“Mozambique and Zimbabwe must bring into being a new force in Malawi,” Machel reportedly told the Zimbabwe delegation, made up of its defense and security ministers and army and air force commanders, at their Oct. 16 meeting in Maputo, the Mozambique capital.

“We must not allow South Africa to set the course in Malawi. . . . The victory is being planned. . . . It demands cold-bloodedness.”

According to copies of the minutes distributed by officials here, Gen. Rex Nhongo, the Zimbabwe army commander replied: “Let us fight Malawi inside that country. The target is inside that country.”

Although Mozambique originated the plan in an effort to crush the Mozambique National Resistance, whose guerrillas have government forces on the defensive in many parts of the country, Botha said, “Zimbabwe eagerly took part in the planning and drawing up of this conspiracy of aggression and violence.”

Displays Stained Document

Holding up a plastic folder with the stained and water-marked document, which bore what were described as handwritten notes by Machel aides, Botha said there could not be the slightest doubt about its authenticity, though he acknowledged that questions would inevitably be raised.

He said that South African “technical experts,” apparently including military intelligence officers, had only recently examined the document, one of hundreds collected from the crash, and brought it to his attention Monday.

Botha, who lauded Machel after his death as a man of peace, a leader Africa would miss, said he had been “dismayed, disappointed and shocked” by the plan and Machel’s comments about South Africa. “I did not expect this, not at all,” he said.

Machel was returning from a meeting with President Kenneth D. Kaunda of Zambia and several other African leaders to discuss the region’s problems when his twin-engine jetliner crashed into a hillside on South Africa’s border with Mozambique.

Circumstances of the crash are disputed. South Africa maintains that the aircraft’s Soviet pilot had lost his way, perhaps through sloppy navigation. Mozambique, Zimbabwe and other black African countries suggest that he may have been deliberately lured off course by false radio beacons from South Africa.

Mozambique to Fight On

Mozambique’s new president, Chissano, the former foreign minister, declared after being sworn in Thursday in Maputo that the war against the rightist guerrillas will remain the government’s top priority and will have to be intensified.

“This is a struggle in which there cannot be any compromises of any sort,” he said, foreclosing any possibility of peace talks with the Mozambique National Resistance.

Chissano said that Mozambique will continue to “observe in letter and spirit” the Nkomati Accord, a nonaggression pact signed with South Africa in March, 1984, but he accused Pretoria of violating its provisions by continuing to support the rightist rebels.