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
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