of Southern Rhodesia on whether it should have independence, and opposed the government's use of the House of Chiefs as a means of consulting African opinion. When Ian Smith's government increasingly threatened a unilateral declaration of independence, Chikerema declared the willingness of ZAPU to take up armed struggle, promising "a campaign of terror" in which "at first we will attack white farms in isolated areas, and with the arms we capture there, we will attack white homes in the towns". Following UDI, Chikerema took charge of ZAPU's guerrilla war. FROLIZI In 1971 ZAPU split, with Chikerema joining instead the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (FROLIZI). After the collapse of talks in Lusaka in December 1974, Chikerema on behalf of FROLIZI signed an agreement with Nkomo of ZAPU and Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) to unite with the African National Council of Rev. Abel Muzorewa. Unlike the other leaders, Chikerema remained in exile fearing arrest and imprisonment or execution should he return to Rhodesia. Because of this, when the Rhodesian government agreed to talks in 1975, the venue chosen was a railway carriage on the bridge over the Victoria Falls: the carriage was placed in the middle of the bridge so that the ANC delegation was in Zambia while the Rhodesians were still in Rhodesia. Shortly after the talks the accord within the ANC fell apart with Chikerema siding with Sithole and Muzorewa against Nkomo and Robert Mugabe. In February 1976 Chikerema issued a press statement that the armed struggle was likely to resume, saying that the United Kingdom abdicated responsibility by failing to send troops against the Rhodesian government after UDI, and that any troops then sent to Rhodesia would be fought by the ANC. Alliance with Muzorewa Increasingly, Chikerema grew politically close to Muzorewa. He became the first vice-president of the United African National Council which Muzorewa had founded, and was allowed to return to Rhodesia in September 1977. At a meeting the next month he caused uproar among the white audience by arguing that there were no terrorists in Rhodesia, merely freedom fighters. He became highly critical of the Patriotic Front formed by Mugabe's ZANU and Nkomo's ZAPU, and accused the United Kingdom of supporting ZAPU. Chikerema participated in the internal settlement talks of 1978 and supported the proposal of reserving 28 seats for white voters in a majority-rule Parliament. In his