- HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe
police have arrested more than 80 white farmers and charged some in court
for defying government orders to vacate land targeted for redistribution
to landless blacks, a farm group said on Saturday.
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- It also said police and war veterans had assaulted a
white farmer during his arrest on Saturday, a month after he left his farm
in compliance with a government eviction notice.
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- "Tony Smith who left his farm a month ago was severely
beaten up early this morning allegedly by police and war veterans at his
Chisipite home in Harare," said Justice for Agriculture (JAG) spokeswoman
Jenni Williams in a statement.
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- She said JAG was trying to get Smith released from police
custody so he could be treated for a suspected broken leg and head injuries.
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- Police were not immediately available for comment.
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- Mugabe's government has ordered 2,900 of the country's
remaining 4,500 white commercial farmers to quit their land without compensation,
but nearly two thirds are refusing to go after ignoring an August 8 deadline.
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- Mugabe, who has been in power since the country gained
independence from Britain in 1980, says his land drive is aimed at correcting
colonial injustice which left 70 percent of the best farmland in the hands
of white farmers.
-
- But the JAG says most of the targeted farmers have only
one farm each and nowhere else to stay, nor any other source of income
outside agriculture.
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- Zimbabwe has been in crisis since pro-government militants
led by veterans of the 1970s liberation war began invading white-owned
farms in early 2000.
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- Nearly half the population is short of food because of
disruption on the farms and a drought affecting much of southern Africa.
-
- On Saturday, the 11 Pacific members of the Commonwealth
called for stronger action against Zimbabwe, but stopped short of threatening
to expel the country.
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- "Pacific Commonwealth leaders...recommended further
action by the Commonwealth should there be no rapid change of approach
by the Zimbabwe government," the leaders said in a statement at the
annual Pacific Islands Forum.
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- ARRESTS TO CONTINUE
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- Seven farmers appeared in court on Friday and another
77 have been arrested for failing to comply with eviction orders, Williams
said.
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- Of the 77 arrested, 57 are in custody, while 20 have
been released and are expected to appear in court in the next few days.
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- Mugabe told a black farmers annual congress on Friday
the land reform program was "completely irreversible."
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- "This is not (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair's
land, this is Mugabe's land. This is the land of our ancestors," he
told them.
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- Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena
said on Friday police would continue to arrest anyone defying the eviction
orders.
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- On Saturday the Herald newspaper accused white farmers
of greed, saying they were clinging to more than one farm each and trying
to derail reforms.
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- "White farmers' actions of defiance confirm yet
again their hostility toward Zimbabwe...White farmers' refusal to leave
shows that their greed knows no bounds," it said in an editorial.
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