DATE=4/21/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=MUGABRE LEADS ZIMBABWE ASTRAY
NUMBER=6-11786
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
INTRO: For weeks, black settlers, including men and
women who fought in Zimbabwe's war of independence,
have been occupying the nation's large, commercial
farms, owned by the country's tiny white minority.
These increasingly violent incidents have the
encouragement of President Robert Mugabe, the man who
led the fight for independence from the last white,
minority government of Ian Smith. So far, two white
farmers have been killed and several others beaten, as
the authorities do nothing to stop the violence.
So as Zimbabwe celebrates the 20th anniversary of
independence and black, majority rule this week, the
resource-rich Southern African country appears headed
for trouble.
We get a sampling of U-S press reaction to this latest
state of affairs now, from _____________ in today's U-
S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: During the early part of his presidency, Robert
Mugabe was hailed as a new breed of African leader.
For several years in the 1980s, he aggressively
attacked Zimbabwe's problems, including a continuing
guerrilla war with dissident blacks. He finally
brought peace and prosperity to the country, which had
been known as Southern Rhodesia, and then, simply,
Rhodesia.
Although some white Zimbabweans left, most white
farmers remained, and the agricultural sector
continued to be the backbone of the economy. During
the past few years, after being twice re-elected, Mr.
Mugabe has, according to critics, become increasingly
autocratic and has failed in several plans to re-
distribute some of the nation's arable land to black
peasants.
Although whites represent barely one percent of the
population, they control most of the best farmland,
and are loath to give it up, especially if the
government in Harare is unwilling to compensate them
for it. Most blacks farm tiny plots on unproductive
land that can barely feed their families. That is the
crux of the problem, which has escalated in the past
six weeks, as blacks, including some veterans of the
independence war, have occupied dozens of farms.
In sporadic violence, at least two white farmers have
been killed, and several others wounded. Some black
farm workers, on the side of the owners, have also
been wounded in skirmishes with the settlers. Neither
the Zimbabwean police nor the army has intervened in
any meaningful way, as the potentially prosperous
nation appears heading for more violence.
We begin our sampling in the Rhode Island capital,
where The Providence Journal decries the present state
of affairs.
VOICE: This week is the 20th anniversary of
independence from white rule for Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe, 76, faces
the stiffest opposition in his 20-year rule.
Many observers argue that his precarious
political position explains his encouraging his
followers among the black majority to illegally
seize ... more than 900 farms owned by whites.
... Surprisingly, formidable black foes are
speaking out against Mr. Mugabe's encouragement
of the farm occupations ...[,opposing] the
illegality of the seizure, and [asking] fair
compensation for willing white sellers.
TEXT: In the Midwest, where farming is a central part
of the economy, the Chicago Tribune is casting a wary
eye on the situation.
VOICE: It's hard to imagine how the situation
in Zimbabwe can end happily -- even if, as seems
unlikely, it ends without any more bloodshed.
President ... Mugabe apparently has decided that
his future lies in satisfying (or seeming to
satisfy) the demands of landless black peasants,
many of them veterans of the war for
independence, even at the expense of the one
sector of the Zimbabwean economy that produces
exports and undergirds [EDS: provides a
foundation for] the national treasury -- the
large, mostly white-owned commercial farms.
... following his crushing defeat in a
constitutional referendum in February, he [Mr.
Mugabe] abandoned any pretense of balance.
Subtly at first, then blatantly, he and his
government began encouraging black squatters to
invade and occupy white farms. ... It appears
now that [Mr.] Mugabe is intent on bringing
civil conflict -- racial conflict -- to his
country. That may serve his needs -- perhaps as
a pretext to declare martial law. But it won't
serve Zimbabwe's.
TEXT: On New York's Long Island, Newsday feels
strongly that the United States cannot stand idly by
and allow one of Southern Africa's most potentially
wealthy nations, be consumed by racial chaos.
VOICE: Zimbabwe is in the grip of the most
serious crisis of its post-colonial history.
It's an upheaval tainted with ugly racial
overtones and it carries the potential to spread
violence in neighboring nations and dry up the
foreign aid and investment Africa desperately
needs. The violent, lawless invasion of white-
owned farms by landless black squatters has ...
been actively encouraged by ... Robert Mugabe,
as a ploy to keep himself in power. He faces a
pivotal election next month that could oust him
after two decades of one-party rule. But
perhaps the most worrisome aspects of the land
seizures are the sympathetic reactions elsewhere
in Africa, and the public silence of world
leaders on [Mr.] Mugabe's unconscionable acts
condoning and inciting violence. ... Land
reform as redress for colonialism's distortions
is a valid issue, but it must be undertaken
through laws, not violence -- in Zimbabwe or
anywhere else in Africa.
TEXT: Writing in agreement, The San Francisco
Chronicle sums up Mr. Mugabe's presidency this
way:words:
VOICE: ...[President] Mugabe, like so many
African leaders who have come to power on the
crest of a popular revolt, has been a bitter
disappointment. ... As Zimbabwe's economy has
flagged, and along with it [his] support, he has
become more and more unpredictable and
irrational, lashing out at critics and quashing
dissent at every turn.
TEXT: In Denver, Colorado, Holger Jensen,
international affairs columnist of The Rocky Mountain
News, explains the situation this way, as he
castigates the Mugabe government.
VOICE: Gallup polls indicate that 65 percent of
the country's voters are heartily sick of the
ruling ZANU-PF [Zimbabwe African National Union-
Patriotic Front] and want [Mr.] Mugabe to step
down. /// OPT /// Their sentiments were
confirmed in a February referendum that
overwhelmingly rejected a new constitution that
would have strengthened the president's grip on
power. Unfazed by that defeat, [President]
Mugabe's tame parliament adopted a
constitutional amendment allowing him to seize
white-owned farms without compensation. And
this unleashed the invasion of squatters vowing
to fulfil [Mr.] Mugabe's unfulfilled promise of
redistributing white-owned land to landless
black peasants. /// END OPT /// [President]
Mugabe plays the land reform card every time he
feels threatened, saying it is immoral for 45-
hundred mostly white farmers to occupy two-
thirds of Zimbabwe's arable land while rural
blacks, who account for two-thirds of a
population of twelve-and-one-half-million, are
either landless or jammed into crowded tribal
preserves. While this has worked in the past,
it is unlikely to distract attention from
Zimbabwe's economic crisis. The urban poor want
city jobs, not subsistence plots in the
countryside. And 700-thousand black workers
depend on white-owned farms for their
livelihood. Although they could be viewed as a
vestige of colonialism, they are the last viable
sector of Zimbabwe's tottering economy ...
TEXT: With that, we conclude this sampling of U-S
press comment on the land redistribution crisis in
Zimbabwe.
NEB/ANG/JP
21-Apr-2000 13:52 PM EDT (21-Apr-2000 1752 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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