A white-owned Zimbabwean farm where gunfire had broken out early on Tuesday was calm after police arrived at midday, although about 70 pro-government militants remained on the farm, a farming lobby said.
”When the police got there, the three armed men had
disappeared,” said Jenni Williams of Justice for Agriculture (JAG).
Gunfire was exchanged earlier in the day after about 70 militants raided a white-owned farm and had barricaded the farm family inside their home in northern Zimbabwe, Williams said.
Police reprisentative Wayne Bvudzijena said he was trying to verify the incident. No injuries have been reported.
A crowd had gathered late Monday at the farm belonging to Ian Cochran’s mother in the northern district of Karoi, and early on Tuesday a truck carrying about 50 people arrived at his homestead, Williams said.
Two of the men were armed with semi-automatic shotguns, while a third had a rifle, she said.
The mob had attacked the home and dragged out Cochran’s mother, who managed to slip away, Williams added.
Cochran, who was in an outlying building on the farm, took his own gun and walked through the mob to get to the home, she said.
A shot was fired as he neared the home, and he responded by firing into the ground. Several more shots were fired, and Cochran fired twice in response, she added.
But the situation was calm by the time police arrived, about three hours after the incident began, Williams said.
”Cochran was walking around the farm with the police to make sure everything was all right,” Williams said.
The incident came two days after the expiry of government eviction orders for some farmers to leave their land under President Robert Mugabe’s violence-wracked land reform programme. – Sapa-AFP