NIBMAR: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

NIBMAR or No Independence Before Majority Rule refers to the policy where Afro-Asian-Caribbean members of the Commonwealth advocated this position with respects to the future status of Rhodesia as a sovereign nation, and were heatedly pressuring British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, to adopt the approach during a 21 July, 1961 conference in London.

Wilson, however, was not inclined to do so. The row was settled when Canadian Prime Minister, Lester Pearson, formulated a draft resolution committing Wilson to NIBMAR. Pearson was to later recall: “I wasn’t sure whether I was being asked to commit polygamy or incest, but whatever it was, I did it.” The accomplishment was short-lived, however, as Wilson continued to extend offers to Ian Smith which came considerably short of NIBMAR (offers which Smith nonetheless ultimately rejected).

References

• Good, Robert C. U.D.I.: the International Politics of the Rhodesian Rebellion (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1973).