The former prime minister of Rhodesia, Ian Smith, has died aged 88.

The cause of his death is unknown but he had been ill for some time at a residential home in South Africa.

He illegally declared independence from Britain in 1965 and his white minority government led the country for 14 years amid international scorn and sanctions.

Following a bitter bush war with black nationalists, his government was overthrown by Robert Mugabe in 1979, leading to the creation of Zimbabwe.

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REFERENCES:

1. Racism and apartheid in southern Africa: Rhodesia: a book of data
2. Rhodesia: White Racism and Imperial Response
3. Mugabe: Power, Plunder, and the Struggle for Zimbabwe
2. Black Peril, White Virtue: Sexual Crime in Southern Rhodesia, 1902-1935