Zimbabwe White Farmer Evictions 'Reckless,' US Says

yahoo.com ^ | Aug 12, 2002 - 3:45 PM ET | Reuters

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday accused Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe of recklessly risking disastrous food shortages by reinforcing a deadline for white farmers to give up their land to landless blacks.

"At a time when six million Zimbabweans are without adequate food supplies, that the government of Zimbabwe attempts to evict commercial farmers and thousands of farm workers, is extremely reckless, and in fact reprehensible," said deputy State Department spokesman Philip Reeker.

While Zimbabwe is at the center of a regional food crisis, Mugabe's government ordered 2,900 of the remaining 4,500 white commercial farmers to quit their land without compensation by midnight last Thursday, Aug. 8.

Aid agencies predict that up to 13 million people in six southern African countries face starvation by February as a result of drought and political mismanagement. About half of them are in Zimbabwe.

Reeker said the Mugabe government's efforts to evict commercial farmers and what he called its assault on political opponents and the independent media had "destroyed Zimbabwe's economy, undermined the democratic institutions in that country and accelerated the onset of this severe food shortage."

The U.S. Agency for International Development sent a 20,000-tonshipment of food aid that arrived at Durban, South Africa, July 28, Reeker said.

"We're working, obviously, with governments, but also with the NGO (non-government organization) community and the World Food Program to get this food distributed to those that need it in that region," Reeker told a news briefing.

The United States says it recognizes the need for real land reform in Zimbabwe. But on Friday, Reeker said forced expulsions and violent property seizures were taking Zimbabwe in the opposite direction.

"Credible reports of senior political and security figures assuming ownership of expropriated commercial farms further reveals the cynicism of Mugabe's so-called land reform program," he added in a statement.

[dougherty]

That's a sad photo. We will be bombarded with them via the media soon, (how about some photos of the murdered farmers as well??) but I have also read that many of these people that will soon be starving to death believe the whites should eventually be kicked off of their land. No aid to racists, let nature take its course. There would be no better incentive for a revolution. These people need to take responsibility and control over their lives and quit looking for the West to bail them out of their messes every few years.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Zimbabwe's farmers get no reprieve - South Africa refuses to comment *** Zimbabwe used to be South Africa's top trading partner on the continent. Now, South African exports across the Limpopo River border have all but stopped. South Africa's currency, the rand, has lost more than 30 percent of its value since Zimbabwe's land crisis began in February 2000. Several factors have contributed to this slide, but Reserve Bank economists cite Zimbabwe's crisis first among them. Thousands of illegal Zimbabwean refugees, meanwhile, flee south each month into a country that already faces 40 percent unemployment. South African President Thabo Mbeki's spokesman, Bheki Khumalo, when asked yesterday about the deteriorating conditions in Zimbabwe, said, ''At this stage, it would be unwise for us to comment.''***

[Freemeorkillme]

Lando Mugabe BUMP!