CBS World News Roundup – May 29, 1979 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Busy day in the world, this May 29th – Cautiously optimistic and warily holding breath at the same time. News on the swearing in of Bishop Abel Muzorewa as Rhodesia’s first Black Head of State – and a name change, from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe as cautious optimism permeates the ceremony. Abel Muzorewa, also referred to as Bishop Muzorewa, was a Zimbabwean bishop and politician who served as the first and only Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from the Internal Settlement to the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979. A United Methodist Church bishop and nationalist leader, he held office for only a few months. But on this day, it was a start.
Cautious too was sight of the first Isreali Naval ships entering the Suez Canal, for the first time. Three Israeli Navy vessels sailed north through the Suez Canal today in the first peacetime use of the waterway by Israel’s armed forces.
The landing craft, bearing trucks and flying the blue and white Star of David, passed charred hulks of Israeli tanks destroyed in the 1973 war. Egyptians reportedly ran to the canal banks to shout “Shalom!” Hebrew for “Peace!”
The Navy ships, the Ashdod, Achziv and Ashkelon, joined an international convoy of 29 ships for the 14‐hour voyage up the 100‐mile canal that links the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. The convoy included ships under the flags of the United States, the Soviet Union, Greece and Egypt. No vessels from Arab nations took part. Not all optimistic in the rest of the Arab world, Egyptian President Sadat expressed confidence this new effort at peace was going to last.
And in El Salvador, after a series of anti-government disorders, an undercurrent of anxiety was still gripping this central American country. Although on the surface life seemed normal, the 30 day state of siege imposed by the Salvadorian military regime. but the apparent calm was only surface deep. Shops were open and people were going to work, but frequent military patrols roamed the streets. Traffic is stopped as cars are searched. Identity is demanded of passers by. Those without it are arrested. Soldiers are deployed around University buildings and other places suspected of revolutionary activity. At least 10 persons had met deaths over the previous week, in open defiance of the State of Siege. And there have been two mass demonstrations – one in the city and the other in the interior. This day also marked the 25th day a French Ambassador was being held hostage by Revolutionaries while negotiations to secure his release were dragging on.
And along with the continuing story of Zimbabwe and others, that’s just a small slice of what happened, this May 29, 1979 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup.
