WHITE Zimbabwean farmers have offered to give the government one million hectares (almost 2.5m acres) of land for resettlement by poor black farmers, in a bid to jumpstart talks to end more than a year of violence on farms. The proposal also calls for ending any litigation against the government, provides financing for newly resettled farmers, as well as some tillage services and technical assistance. In presenting their offer, top farming and banking officials said that they had already made some contacts with the government – marking a substantial turnaround from the government’s previous refusal to talk. “We certainly feel that the mood is receptive to an agreement at this point,” said Malcolm Vowles, who coordinated the effort under the newly launched Zimbabwe Joint Resettlement Initiative. Mugabe wants to resettle five million hectares (12.3m acres) of white-owned land with poor blacks farmers, in a bid to redress widely recognised inequalities in land ownership. – AFP