After years of silence, I finally saw that the Birmingham (Alabama) News ran an editorial this week condemning Mugabe's farm evictions. Mugabe's so bad that even a few of the liberal reporters won't stoop low enough to cover for him...
Posted on 08/14/2002 9:01:19 AM PDT by Clive
Harare - Two journalists escaped from a farm in northern Zimbabwe Wednesday, where pro-government militants had trapped them inside for about five hours, a farming official said.
Precious Shumba of the Daily News and Peta Thornycroft of Britain's Daily Telegraph fled the farm, where the militants were trying to forcibly evict the white owners, said Jenni Williams, spokesperson for the Justice for Agriculture advocacy group.
"It was for fear of their lives that they stayed in, hoping that the police would escort them to safety," Williams said.
The militants had surrounded the house where farmer Terry Hinde and his family had barricaded themselves inside for safety, even as the militants were breaking windows and trying to move in.
The journalists had been trapped inside with the Hindes, whose land has been targetted for acquisition by President Robert Mugabe's government under a controversial programme to redistribute land held by minority whites to marginalised blacks.
The Hinde family was packing their belongings and trying to leave their home of 27 years before dark, Williams added.
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said he had no details on the incident in the northern district of Bindura.
An editor at the Daily News, Bill Saidi, said the militants had accused Shumba of writing lies about the land reform scheme.
The Hinde family plans to challenge their eviction in court, Williams said, following a precedent set last week when the High Court said farms under mortage could not be resettled until the bank was notified. - Sapa-AFP
The rest of Africa does nothing.
Zim allows some farmers to plant and irrigate winter crops but does not recind the eviction orders.
The rest of Africa holds this out as evidence of a conciliatory stance on the part of Zim.
Some farmers sue and the courts hold that the evictions are premature because the mortgagees have not been notified.
Zim calls any farmer who joins in a law suit an arrogant racist and vows that there will be no rescinding of the eviction order.
The rest of Africa does nothing.
Mugabe makes a speech on monday in which he says that "loyal" farmers will be able to farm, the rest of the speech is a threat to the farmers and a promise to soldiers that they will benefit from the land siezure exercise, basically an inducement to the soldiers to back up the land confiscations.
The rest of Africa hails this as a conciliatory act of statesmanship.
Yesterday a gang of soldiers and policemen armed with AK47 rifles, led by a woman who would not identify herself, ordered 5 farmers off their land, including farmers who had not yet been served with eviction notices.
This morning, Terry Hinds was confronted with a gang who ordered him off the land. Because of the violent nature of the confrontation he decides to leave and starts to pack.
This afternoon the same mob barricades him and two reporters into his home, preventing him from leaving. No time for the rest of Africa to respond but they still think that Mugabe is being conciliatory and my bet is that they will ignore the actual situation on the ground as they have done all along.
Yeah, right, good luck on that one! I would not place any bets in their favor in that corrupt country.
BTW, where is the outcry of the Left in this country over the ethnic cleansing that is taking place in Zimbabwe?
sauve qui peut.
made famous at Waterloo after the Old Guard's ranks were broken. The guard had such a reputation that it demoralized the whole army and the cry went up "La Garde recule, sauve qui peut"
It has become a military expression, pronounced by English speaking soldiers as "sove qui poo" and means "bug out time, every man for himself":
The fall of Saigon was a sauve qui peut.
The mayor heard that a German soccer team was visiting and he surrrendered the city.
After years of silence, I finally saw that the Birmingham (Alabama) News ran an editorial this week condemning Mugabe's farm evictions. Mugabe's so bad that even a few of the liberal reporters won't stoop low enough to cover for him...
Histories, written by Englishmen, usually translate it as "save himself who can"
I always think of it as "save your arse"
The white farmers hanging on in Zim are forgetting the lessons of the Russian kulaks, the German Jews in the 1930s, etc. It doesn't get better, it just lurches between temporary calm and the ultimate genocide.
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