State Department Approves Rhodesian Official Visit

WASHINGTON--The State Department is approving visits to the United States by Ian Smith, prime minister of Rhodesia, and other members of the Rhodesian government, a Department spokesman said yesterday.

The action ended a two-week conflict within the Carter administration over the propriety of approving visa applications by leaders of a regime that the United Nations regards as illegal.

United Nations Security Council resolutions call on member countries not to accept visits by representatives of the Smith government. The same resolutions also call for a transition to majority rule in Rhodesia, U.N. officials said.

The administration decided to make an "exception" to the U.N. sanctions against Rhodesia because "we believe the visit can contribute to the process of achieving a settlement," Thomas Reston, a Department spokesman, said yesterday.

Smith and a black leader in the transition administration are scheduled to leave for the United States this weekend, Rhodesian government officials said yesterday.

The black leader will probably be Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole, one of the three black members of Rhodesia's Executive Committee. The other two black members, Jeremiah Chirau and Bishop Abel Muzorewa, will come later. Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, is expected to meet with them, government officials said.

A group of 27 conservative senators invited the Smith group here so they could have the right to present their case to the American people, Sen. S.I. Hayakawa (R-Calif.), leader of the group, said.

Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe, co-leaders of the Patriotic Front guerilla group that is waging an armed struggle against the Smith Government, have come to the United States several times, the senator added.