Posted on 08/12/2002 6:41:47 PM PDT by Clive
In his first public address since the passing of the deadline for thousands of white farmers to leave their homes, President Robert Mugabe insisted yesterday that they must surrender their farms without delay.
Addressing a crowd of thousands at the Heroes' Acre showground on the outskirts of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, he added that those who "want another war should think again when they still have time to do so".
At a memorial service for Bernard Chidzero, the former finance minister, he launched a familiar tirade against Tony Blair, calling him "insane" and a "gangster".
Mr Mugabe, 78, went on to claim that farmers willing to co- operate with his government would not be left without any land. After years of failed promises few farmers will feel reassured.
"All genuine and well-meaning white farmers who wish to pursue a farming career as loyal citizens of this country will have land to do so," he said.
Hundreds of white farmers who have ignored the eviction orders watched the address on television as they waited anxiously in their homesteads for what happens next.
The deadlock between white farmers and the government was in its fourth day yesterday, Heroes' Day, commemorating those who died in the war for independence.
As yet there has been no official action to evict farmers since the deadline passed at midnight on Thursday.
But Mr Mugabe said his government would not allow whites to remain on large properties or own more than one farm while maintaining ties with Britain.
"To those who want to own this country for Britain, the game is up and it is time for them to go where they belong. There is no room for rapacious supremacists," he said.
Facing criticism from the Conservatives, Downing Street said yesterday Mr Blair would try to urge African leaders at next month's Earth Summit in South Africa to put pressure on Mr Mugabe to halt the forcible eviction. Michael Ancram, the Conservative foreign affairs spokesman, called for an end to "shilly-shallying" over Mr Mugabe's regime.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Mr Mugabe's land-grab policy was causing huge problems across southern Africa as well as directly affecting white farmers and thousands of their black farm workers.
Half Zimbabwe's population of 12.5 million face starvation, according to the United Nations World Food Programme, which says a major cause of the crisis was the seizure of white-owned commercial farms.
David Hasluck, director of the mainly white Commercial Farmers' Union, said Mr the statement that people who owned only one farm would be allowed to remain was "encouraging". He added: "Many farmers are already off their land and need to be allowed to return as a matter of urgency to produce food."
I was recently reading a piece from one of the IMF brainiacs, and all he did was skirt around the issue of Africa's economic problems, basically saying they needed more study!
It's going to get worse before it gets better, if ever.
,,, Tony Blair? Who is Tony Blair ordering off their land under threat of violence or death?
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