Unilateral declaration of independence
| Unilateral Declaration of Independence | |
|---|---|
A photograph of the proclamation document
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| Created | November 1965 |
| Ratified | 11 November 1965 |
| Location | Salisbury, Rhodesia |
| Author(s) | Gerald B Clarke et al. |
| Signatories |
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| Purpose | To announce and explain unilateral separation from the United Kingdom |
The Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was a statement adopted by the Cabinet of Rhodesia on 11 November 1965, announcing that Rhodesia, a British territory in southern Africa that had governed itself since 1923, now regarded itself as an independent sovereign state. The culmination of a protracted dispute between the British and Rhodesian governments regarding the terms under which the latter could become fully independent, it was the first unilateral break from the United Kingdom by one of its colonies since the United States Declaration of Independence nearly two centuries before. Britain, the Commonwealth and the United Nations all deemed Rhodesia's UDI illegal, and economic sanctions, the first in the UN's history, were imposed on the breakaway colony. Amid near-complete international isolation, Rhodesia continued as an unrecognised state with the assistance of South Africa and Portugal.
The Rhodesian government, which mostly comprised members of the country's white minority of about 5%, was indignant when, amid decolonisation and the Wind of Change, less developed African colonies to the north without comparable experience of self-rule quickly advanced to independence during the early 1960s while Rhodesia was refused sovereignty under the newly ascendant principle of "no independence before majority rule" ("NIBMAR"). Most white Rhodesians felt that they were due independence following four decades' self-government, and that Britain was betraying them by withholding it. This combined with the colonial government's acute reluctance to hand over power to black nationalists—the manifestation of racial tensions, Cold War anti-communism and the fear that a dystopian Congo-style situation might result—to create the impression that if Britain did not grant independence, Rhodesia might be justified in taking it unilaterally.
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