Chenjerai Hunzvi
"They should either leave Zimbabwe or give up their land and go to stay in flats in town!"
(War veterans leader Chenjerai Hunzvi's quote)
Chenjerai Hunzvi
During three months of farm invasions
to white farmers by Zimbabwe's farmers and associated political violence,
at least 19 people -- including three farmers, farm workers and opposition
supporters -- have died. Armed squatters invaded more white-owned
farms on the weekends. The veterans have invaded nearly 60 more farms,
killed another farmer and driven thousands of workers off farms by burning
their homes and assaulting them for supporting the MDC.
| Alan Dunn was the
first white farmer to be attacked in two weeks and the third to die since
veterans of the 1970s war against white rule began invading farms in February,
demanding land they say was stolen by British settlers. The farm
invasions over the first two weeks have peaked at more than 330 countrywide.
Most recently, Farmer Alan Dunn died of severe head injuries on Monday (May 8) after he was beaten unconscious on Sunday by suspected war veterans, who have led mobs of government supporters in occupying hundreds of farms in the last three months. Later on Monday, farm worker Charles Mulambo, 45, was taken to hospital after a roadside assault by whites. |
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| President Robert Mugabe has refused to stop the invasions, saying the veterans have a right to demand land they say was stolen by Zimbabwe's former white rulers from indigenous blacks. However, Mugabe has denied he is backing the invasion of white-owned. |
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| South African President Thabo Mbeki, in his first substantial comment on the crisis in Zimbabwe, Friday urged President Robert Mugabe to include whites in a peaceful settlement on land ownership. President Festus Mogae of Botswana added to the regional pressure on Mugabe, telling reporters at a news conference in Gaborone the Zimbabwe crisis was hurting the region's economy. |
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| More Information: |
Commercial farms have been occupied |
An attacked farm |
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