Operation Midford

Operation Midford was New Zealand's contribution to the Commonwealth Monitoring Force in Rhodesia in late 1979 and early 1980 that eventually led to the Lancaster House Agreement and the independence of Zimbabwe.

The Rhodesian Bush War had dragged on for some 14 years from 1965 until 1979, being largely overshadowed by the television-driven Vietnam War. The war in Rhodesia was largely ignored internationally, until the guerrillas committed atrocities on various Missionary stations. There were three belligerent parties, including the predominantly white led Rhodesian Security Forces, and two rival black nationalist guerrilla factions: the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), armed wing of Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union, and the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), armed wing of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union.

In April 1979 an election was held in Zimbabwe Rhodesia in which 63% of the black population voted, and on 1 June 1979, Bishop Abel Muzorewa was sworn in as the first black Prime Minister of Rhodesia. Meanwhile, the Peace Talks at Lancaster House continued in a rather "on again–off again" fashion. This state of affairs continued until October and then as the light began to appear at the end of the tunnel, the United Kingdom sent out feelers to various Commonwealth nations that troops might be needed for a special operation.

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