The last Prime Minister of white-ruled Rhodesia, Ian Smith, has died at the age of 88.
Mr Smith achieved international notoriety when he illegally declared independence from Britain in 1965.
His white minority government ruled in what is now Zimbabwe for 14 years despite UN economic sanctions and a bitter civil war with black nationalists, including Robert Mugabe's ZANU organisation.
He stepped aside in 1979 in an interim deal with moderate black politicians until a British-brokered agreement saw Robert Mugabe take over as Prime Minister after elections in 1980.
Mr Smith had been ill at a residential home in South Africa for some time.
Officials in Mr Mugabe's government said yesterday that Mr Smith, who in 1976 declared he did not believe in black majority rule, 'not in a thousand years', would not be missed.
