However , this movement towards negotiation and appeasement of the Salisbury regime was turned on its head over the following two years , thanks in no small part to pressure from the Commonwealth . The Singapore Declaration , issued at the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting , articulated the political principles of the Commonwealth , including the elimination of racial discrimination . With the incorporation of this implicit commitment to opposing Rhodesia into the Commonwealth 's aims , and the increasingly disparity of British economic interests in Africa , the UK chose the Commonwealth over Rhodesia
first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 1971
Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth of Nations