President Mugabe has said that, while there was a need for a return to normal working conditions on the farms, squatters on more than 1,000 occupied farms would not move immediately. Mr Mugabe held talks on land ownership with the leaders of the country's white commercial farmers and representatives of black squatters. Speaking after the talks he said that war veterans and white farmers agreed to start negotiations on the problem of land redistribution.
Zimbabwe's High Court today found war veterans' leader Chenjerai Hunzvi in contempt of court for inciting illegal occupations of white-owned farms. Mr Hunzvi was given a deadline of May 5 to instruct his followers to end their illegal occupations or face imprisonment.
Earlier this morning, the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, urged Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe, to act to defuse the current tension over land reform in the country. Mr. Annan's appeal followed the deaths of two white farmers and a number of opposition activists during violence connected with the invasion of white-owned farms by government supporters. The Secretary General's spokesman, Fred Eckhardt, said Mr. Annan had made it clear during a phone conversation with Mr. Mugabe that the issue should be resolved calmly.
Yesterday's murder of a white farmer in Zimbabwe brought to nine the number of people who have died at the hands of supporters of President Mugabe's ZANU-PF party in the last fortnight. The victim was 42-year-old Martin Olds, who was shot in the face-after he was forced to flee his burning farm-just outside Bulawayo. Hundreds of white Zimbabweans are now reported to be trying to leave the country.
