Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has ordered an end to farm violence for the first time and announced the creation of a committee to distribute white-owned farmland to blacks. He told a news conference that independence war veterans who have occupied hundreds of white-owned farms since February would not leave until a start had been made on redistributing land earmarked for landless blacks.
However, he said after day-long talks with representatives of the war veterans and white farmers that violence in which at least 19 people, including three white farmers, have died should end. He also said that it was hoped that peace and non-violence would prevail and said that acts of violence must be denounced by all. He said that a land committee including representatives of government, the war veterans' association and the mainly white Commercial Farmers Union would be set up to manage the redistribution of what he called "identified land".
A former Nigerian head of state has been selected to lead a team of Commonwealth observers to monitor the country's upcoming elections. Abdulsalami Abubakar presided over the restoration of civilian rule in Nigeria a year ago. The Commonwealth Secretary General, Don McKinnon, has also announced that he will travel to Zimbabwe next week to convey international concerns over recent political violence and urge President Mugabe to hold free and fair elections.
