weekly anb04197.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 19-04-2000      PART #7/7

* Zimbabwe. Defiance all round  -  13 April: The High Court rules
that police must carry out an order to evict black squatters who
are occupying white-owned farms, rejecting police claims that they
have insufficient manpower to enforce property laws. "The rule of
law has to be upheld", said the judge. "There is no basis for me to
interfere with the judgement of 17 March." In a BBC interview, the
veteran's leader, Chenjerai Hunzvi, said the court could "go to
hell", as he put it. President Mugabe tells the G-77 Summit in
Cuba: "I want to assure you that the land will be acquired,
sanctions or no sanctions. Let Zimbabweans own Zimbabwean land as
Britons own British land". He says that Britain's call for
sanctions was the "most brazen example of the abuse of sanctions as
an instrument of coercion". His declaration comes after Zimbabwe's
Vice-President Joseph Msika orders squatters to leave the white
farms they are occupying. Britain's Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook,
announces that talks in London with a high-ranking Zimbabwean
delegation, will be held in London within a fortnight. There are
reports of black farm workers defending some white-owned farms
against the squatter invasions. They fear their jobs are at risk.
14 April: Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, meets with the UK
Foreign Secretary, as he tries to raise his party's (the Zimbabwe
Movement for Democratic Change) international standing. Tsvangirai
urges the British government to "tone down condemnations of Mr
Mugabe". The Government appeals against the court order to evict
the squatters. 16 April: President Mugabe brushes aside the murders
of a white farmer and two members of the main opposition party, the
Movement for Democratic Change, and condones the illegal land
seizures. 17 April: Anxious white Zimbabweans queue to reclaim
their British citizenship at the British High Commission in Harare.
President Mugabe meets with leaders of the Commercial Farmers'
Union. he expresses regret over the death of the white farmer and
promises to bring the chaotic situation under control. 18 April: A
second white farmer has died after being shot and beaten by war
veterans. The farmer died after being besieged in his farm near
Bulawayo by about 100 war veterans who arrived in a convoy of
trucks. Zimbabwe's 20th anniversary celebrations have been
cancelled. Instead, the President makes a televised address to the
nation. In it he says that land reform remains a critical issue 20
years after he became the first black leader of independent
Zimbabwe. In English he expresses regret for deaths on the farms.
In the Shona version he congratulates war veteran squatters. The UN
Secretary-General appeals to President Mugabe by phone to defuse
the tensions.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 19 April 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Meeting with Mugabe  -  "We are on the right path and
a solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe is possible". This was the
declaration released to MISNA by 51-year-old Jesuit Father Fidelis
Mukonori, who today organised the meeting between a delegation of
representatives of the white farm-owners union and President Robert
Mugabe, in the presidential office. "The meeting was cordial and I
believe that there are concrete possibilities of a peaceful accord
on the delicate issue of the occupation of farms of former British
colonialists by veterans of the liberation war". Father Mukonori,
originally from Zimbabwe, then pointed out that the talks, attended
also by two government ministers, began at 13:20 (local time) and
lasted for one hour and forty-five minutes. "President Mugabe has
already established contact with the veteran leaders and I am sure
that the good intention will bring desired results. The main point
for a peaceful solution to the entire matter", concluded the
Jesuit, "is the respect of current laws."   (MISNA, Rome, 17 April
2000)

* Zimbabwe. Escalade de la violence  -  Le 13 avril, la Haute Cour
du Zimbabwe a confirme l'illegalite des occupations de terres
gerees par des Blancs et a rejete une requete de la police qui
demandait a etre dechargee de l'expulsion des squatters. Le vice-
president du Zimbabwe, Jospeh Msika, a appele a l'arret de ces
occupations et s'est ainsi desolidarise du president Mugabe dont il
assure l'interim pendant un sejour a l'etranger. "Les anciens
combattants et le peuple n'ont nul besoin de continuer a manifester
ou a occuper des fermes n'importe comment. Nous avons fait adopter
la reforme agraire qui nous permettra de reloger les gens dans le
respect de l'ordre", a-t-il affirme. Pour sa part, le president
Mugabe, qui se trouvait a Cuba pour le sommet du Groupe des 77,
jugeait toujours les occupations des terres "moralement justifies".
"Ce n'est pas un combat contre les Blancs. C'est un combat contre
une partie de la population blanche, qui possede des terres", a-t-
il declare. - Le 15 avril, le mouvement d'occupation a bascule dans
le drame. Un fermier blanc, David Stevens, a ete enleve et execute
par des squatters, alors que d'autres Blancs venus a son secours
ont ete severement battus. Dans le meme temps, deux membres de
l'opposition ont peri, brules vifs dans une attaque au cocktail
molotov contre leur voiture, attribuee a des militants du parti
ZANU-PF, au moment ou ils quittaient une reunion du Mouvement pour
le changement democratique (MDC), pres de Buhera a 180 km au sud de
Harare. - Le 16 avril, a son retour du sommet des G77 a Cuba, le
president Mugabe a refuse de calmer le jeu et a continue a soutenir
le mouvement des veterans, malgre les arrets de la Cour supreme.
"C'est nous, le gouvernement et le peuple zimbabween, qui
resoudrons le probleme des terres et non les tribunaux", a-t-il
declare. Londres a denonce l'utilisation par Mugabe du theme
populaire du "Zimbabwe aux Zimbabweens" afin de faire oublier le
mecontentement grandissant de la population a l'egard de ses
tendances autocratiques et de la precarite economique du pays. - Le
17 avril, des Zimbabweens blancs se bousculaient au consulat de la
Grande-Bretagne a Harare pour redemander leur citoyennete
britannique, apres que Londres s'etait declare pret a accueillir
20.000 Blancs zimbabweens. Cependant, le president Mugabe a
rencontre des representants du syndicat des fermiers blancs qui se
sont declares "encourages" par l'attitude du chef de l'Etat.
D'autre part, le 18 avril le Zimbabwe devait celebrer les vingt ans
de son independance, mais les ceremonies officielles ont ete
annulees en raison de l'instabilite actuelle. Ce jour la, le matin,
un deuxieme fermier blanc, Martin Olbs, a ete tue par balles dans
la region de Bulawayo (sud-ouest de Harare). Dans l'apres-midi, le
secretaire general de l'Onu a rencontre le president Mugabe. Kofi
Annan a exhorte M. Mugabe a desamorcer les tensions et a accueilli
favorablement sa decision d'envoyer une delegation a Londres le 27
avril pour discuter des problemes de la reforme agraire.   (ANB-
BIA, de sources diverses, 19 avril 2000)


Weekly anb0419 - end of part 6/7

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