<P> The Unilateral Declaration of Independence ( UDI ) was a statement adopted by the Cabinet of Rhodesia on 11 November 1965 , announcing that Rhodesia , a British territory in southern Africa that had governed itself since 1923 , now regarded itself as an independent sovereign state . The culmination of a protracted dispute between the British and Rhodesian governments regarding the terms under which the latter could become fully independent , it was the first unilateral break from the United Kingdom by one of its colonies since the United States Declaration of Independence nearly two centuries before . The UK , the Commonwealth and the United Nations all deemed Rhodesia 's UDI illegal , and economic sanctions , the first in the UN 's history , were imposed on the breakaway colony . Amid near - complete international isolation , Rhodesia continued as an unrecognised state with the assistance of South Africa and Portugal . </P>
what was the unilateral declaration of independence in southern rhodesia in 1965
regarded itself as an independent sovereign state