Posted on 06/25/2002 5:12:57 AM PDT by Clive
Washington - The United States on Monday decried an order from Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government for white farmers to stop working their land, calling it part of a misguided reform programme.
"We think the government of Zimbabwe's land policy, including the chaotic and the often violent seizure of privately owned farms has greatly compounded the country's worsening social, economic and political crisis," state department spokesperson Richard Boucher said.
"It has also greatly exacerbated the food crisis in Zimbabwe and southern Africa much more broadly. We continue to support rational, sustainable and equitable land reform in Zimbabwe. Very sadly, that's not what's happening."
He noted that the land seizures had "resulted in numerous deaths and serious human rights abuses".
The ban on white farmers working their land, part of a new reform law that affects 2 900 of them and is aimed at enabling the government to resettle their properties with black farmers, took effect overnight.
The farmers almost universally ignored the ban, which came into place without the violence some had feared, and opened themselves up to the threat of up to two years' imprisonment or a Z$20 000 (US$364) fine.
White farms have been the scene of politically charged unrest since February 2000, when pro-Mugabe militants forcibly invaded the land days after Mugabe's loss in a referendum on a new constitution.
Since then, 12 farmers have died while tens of thousands of their workers have lost their jobs, been displaced and attacked by the militants. - Sapa- AFP
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