LAWRENCE BARTLETT & SUSAN NJANJI, Victoria Falls | Friday 5.30pm.
SOUTHERN African leaders meeting at a mini-summit are expected to put pressure on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to resolve the deepening crisis over farm occupations.
Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and Sam Nujoma of Namibia were due to hold separate discussions with Mugabe after talks on the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Observers say Zimbabwe’s neighbours are deeply concerned about its bloody land crisis. The occupation of up to 1000 white-owned farms by black squatters has recently turned violent, with the killings of four people in the past week.
They say the leaders, fearing the instability could spread to the rest of the region, will try to persuade Mugabe to resolve the issue peacefully.
Jackie Cilliers of South Africa’s Institute of Strategic Studies said that although the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) was divided on many issues, most of its members were concerned a major political threat was unfolding in Zimbabwe.
Mbeki has already been involved in behind-the-scenes overtures to seek a regional solution to the crisis, according to South African media reports.
Britain, the European Union and the United States have all called for the restoration of law and order in Zimbabwe.
US President Bill Clinton has conferred with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the issue, the White House said.
A Zimbabwean ministerial delegation is due to meet British government officials in London next week to discuss the escalating violene. Most of the white landowners are descendants of British colonialists.
Friday’s discussions will take place in a plush five-star hotel in Victoria Falls, the country’s top holiday resort town.
The summit comes two days after landmark talks between the war veterans and the white commercial farmers, following the deaths of two white farmers and two opposition members.
One of the dead opposition members is being buried on Friday, in a small village several hundred kilometres away from Victoria Falls.
Violence continued Thursday, with reports farmworkers’ houses were being torched by government supporters. The attacks came despite assurances from controversial war veterans leader Chenjerai “Hitler” Hunzvi that Mugabe was guaranteeing the security of white farmers.
Many white landowners are reported to have fled their farms.
The crisis is becoming a major factor in the flight of foreign capital from South Africa, and is set to deepen the economic difficulties already experienced by many SADC countries. The rand suffered a 20-month low earlier this week, and on Tuesday alone South African bonds suffered an outflow of R1,8-billion. — AFP
20