DATE=5/4/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ZIMBABWE / MILITARY (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261983
BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA
DATELINE=HARARE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In Zimbabwe, credible reports have emerged
about the involvement of government troops in
coordinating and supporting the recent invasions of
white-owned farms by independence war veterans and
other poor landless blacks. V-O-A Southern Africa
Correspondent Alex Belida reports from the Zimbabwean
capital, Harare.
TEXT: Published news reports say as many as two-
thousand members of Zimbabwe's armed forces have been
deployed throughout the country to coordinate the land
invasions and to provide the war veterans and others
involved in farm seizures with food, transportation
and shelter.
The reports, in independent Zimbabwean and South
African newspapers, quote disgruntled military
officers and sources in the ruling ZANU P-F party.
Zimbabwe's Ministry of Defense has denied the
allegations. However the Voice of America has
confirmed that the commander of Zimbabwe's Air Force,
General Perence Shiri, took part in a recent meeting
with commercial farmers, which he attended as part of
a war veterans' delegation.
In that meeting, white farmers were warned they had
made a serious mistake by supporting the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change.
General Shiri is the former head of Zimbabwe's
notorious Fifth Brigade, blamed for a series of
civilian massacres during ethnic unrest in the country
in the 1980's.
Western diplomats say they are not surprised by the
reported military involvement in the farm occupations,
which they maintain have been sponsored, directed, and
paid for by the government of President Robert Mugabe.
One diplomat says there is enough intimidation of farm
owners and farm workers going on in Zimbabwe to give
credence to the involvement of troops.
In a further reference to the use of military
resources, another diplomat tells V-O-A: "The
government has at its disposal broad machinery to
conduct such an operation and I think they are using
whatever they need to fulfill their goals." This
diplomat goes on to say: "There is nothing
spontaneous at all about these land occupations."
Most observers link the land seizures to the sagging
political popularity of President Mugabe and his
ruling ZANU P-F party, which earlier this year
suffered its first ever political defeat, when voters
nationwide rejected a draft constitution put forward
by the government.
A subsequent opinion poll showed the vast majority of
voters favored a change in leadership in the country.
Zimbabwe is preparing for parliamentary elections. No
date has been announced. But analysts say the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change could do
well not only among urban voters distressed by the
country's poor economic conditions but also among
rural voters disenchanted with the ruling party for
failing in its 20 years in power to enact meaningful
large-scale land reform programs. (Signed)
NEB/BEL/JWH/KBK
04-May-2000 10:34 AM EDT (04-May-2000 1434 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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