He did not figure prominently when an opposition group, the Movement for Democratic Change, began to challenge Mugabe in 2000. The United Nations applied international sanctions intended to cut off Rhodesia from the rest of the world in 1966. FACTBOX: Key facts about white Rhodesian leader Ian Smith

It was a privilege to make a stand against Communism. The white Rhodesians' rebellion had finally crumbled.The Constitution drawn up at Lancaster House in London contained compromises guaranteeing that whites would have 20 of the 100 seats in Parliament. Two years later, Smith left Parliament, claiming he had been forced out illegally by Mugabe.While he played a modest, behind-the-scenes role in political life, Smith never regained the prominence of his days as a rebel against the British crown. I have much better relations with black people than he does." Later, in 1976, he declared that there would be no majority rule, "not in a thousand years" in Rhodesia.Smith's relations with the West - Britain in particular - were not improved by the series of negotiations through which London, the lawful authority in Rhodesia, sought to end the rebellion.

Ian Smith, former Rhodesian leader, dies at 88. After his political fall in 1980, he spent much of his time there. "There have been five generations of my family here," he said in the interview, recounting how his parents and grandparents were buried on one of the farms at Shurugwi in central Zimbabwe. Smith was unrepentant. From then onwards, he shunned Smith. "There are millions of black people who say things were better when I was in control," he said in an interview in 2004. “If we were vindictive, if we had not pursued a policy of reconciliation for which our detractors don’t give us any credit, that head that Smith carries should have been chopped,” Mugabe has said repeatedly. The image and the message did not fade over the years. "Trust Mr. Smith. In 1964, a cabinet revolt against his predecessor, Winston Field, gave Smith the job of prime minister.On Nov. 11, 1965, Smith announced in emotionless tones that Rhodesia had unilaterally declared itself independent from Britain, rather than bow to pressure from London for concessions toward the black majority. God bless you all. Ironically, like Mugabe now, Smith routinely berated Britain for what he branded interference in Rhodesia’s domestic affairs and dwelled on this subject at length in his autobiography, “The Great Betrayal.” He moved to Cape Town four years ago for health reasons.
Each round of discussions ended with mutual accusations of deviousness and deceit.

He ended his broadcast proclamation of the rebellion with the words: "We have struck a blow for the preservation of justice, civilization and Christianity and in this belief we have this day assumed our sovereign independence. When peace and majority rule came to his country in 1980, Smith was the only leading politician to oppose acceptance of a negotiated Constitution that buried white supremacy, and Rhodesia, forever.In the eyes of his opponents, his attributes were different. Officials in Mugabe’s government said on Tuesday that Smith — who in 1976 declared he didn’t believe in black majority rule, “not in a thousand years” — would not be missed. “Smith will not be mourned or missed here by any decent person because he was an unrepentant racist whose racist stance and opposition to our independence caused a war, and he was responsible for a lot of deaths and suffering,” Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told Reuters.