Squatters in Zimbabwe Seize Another Farm

About 200 armed black squatters occupied another white-owned farm and police let them stay Sunday, warning them not to use violence.

Squatters and ruling party supporters have seized about 1,000 white-owned farms in what they say is a protest against unequal land distribution; critics call the actions a bid by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to rally supporters and intimidate opponents.

The occupiers moved onto Lynton Farm on Saturday afternoon and beat some workers, said the cattle farm’s owner, John Malzer.

Police visited the group of squatters early Sunday and told them not to use violence. Malzer said he was disappointed that police had allowed the squatters to stay, but he added that the visit had helped calm an explosive situation.

He remained in his home on the farm in the Marondera district, 40 miles southeast of Harare, the capital, saying he thought he was relatively safe.

On Sunday, there was a standoff at a farm owned by the Forrester family in Mvurwi district 60 miles north of Harare. Squatters who had occupied the farm were preventing the owner’s wife from leaving her house and barring the farm owner from entering, a neighbor said.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook confirmed Sunday that other southern African leaders had urged Mugabe to resolve the crisis peacefully.

Cook said Mozambique’s president, Joaquim Chissano, as well as the presidents of South Africa and Namibia, had urged Mugabe at a summit Friday to ensure that a Zimbabwean delegation takes a positive stance in talks with the British government in London on Thursday.

Britain has said it is willing to resume funding to help redistribute white-owned land to landless blacks--but only if Mugabe ends the occupations.

The squatters say they are taking back land seized from them under British colonial rule.

Two white farmers have been killed in the last two weeks, both supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Two other MDC members, both black, were killed April 15, and several farmers with opposition links have been beaten.