African leaders throw their lot with Zimbabwe

Ulhas Joglekar ulhasj at bom4.vsnl.net.in
Sat Apr 22 23:22:33 PDT 2000


Sunday 23 April 2000

African leaders throw their lot with Zimbabwe HARARE: Key southern African leaders have rallied behind President Robert Mugabe, urging the West to provide funds for land re-distribution and defuse Zimbabwe's mounting political crisis. Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Sam Nujoma of Namibia and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique said after talks with Mugabe at Victoria Falls on Friday that Western governments should make good on their promise at a 1998 donor conference to finance land reform. Squatters and veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s war of liberation have occupied hundreds of white-owned farms in a drive for land they say was stolen under British colonial rule. The chaos has plunged the southern African country, already reeling from economic hardship and a fuel shortage, into political turmoil. "We think the donors, including Great Britain, have to deliver. They have to fulfil their commitments," Chissano said. Mugabe did not speak at the news conference. The besieged white farming community had hoped he would say something to defuse the volatile situation in the countryside. The farm invasions and political violence ahead of elections expected in May have left seven people dead and many more have been hurt at the hands of the invaders and pro-government supporters. The government says Zimbabwe's 1 per cent white minority controls about 75 per cent of the best farmland and a third of all the country's arable land. Farm organisations say the figure is closer to 40 per cent. Farmers said on Friday they were waiting in fear amid death threats and warnings of further invasions. They said their workers were fleeing into the bush in fear of the war veterans and young supporters of the ruling party. A farmer said many land owners had abandoned their lands or sent women and children away. "We have been hearing reports of people getting threats against their lives and that they're going to be invaded," he said. "There is a general sense of fear. People are hearing that new invasions are on the cards," a source said. (Reuters) For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
|Disclaimer|
For comments and feedback send Email © Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 2000.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list