Becoming Prime Minister of the Federation in 1956, Welensky opposed British moves towards black majority rule, and used force to suppress politically motivated violence in the territories. After the advent of Black majority rule in two of the Federation's three territories (Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, now Zambia and Malawi respectively), it collapsed in 1963. Welensky retired to Salisbury, where he re-entered politics and attempted to stop Rhodesia (formerly Southern Rhodesia) from unilaterally declaring itself independent. With the end of White minority rule in 1979, and the recognised independence of Rhodesia as the "Republic of Zimbabwe" under Robert Mugabe in 1980, Welensky emigrated to the United Kingdom, where he died in England in 1991. A fervent admirer of Britain and its Empire, Welensky described himself as "half Jewish, half Afrikaner 100% British".