Violent farm invasions continued in Zimbabwe as President Robert Mugabe stopped short of giving an unequivocal endorsement of a Nigerian-brokered deal to end his land seizure programme.
Mr Mugabe said yesterday he accepted the accord in principle, but it still had to be approved by his cabinet and the politburo of his party, Zanu-PF. "We accept it but we need to go through processes. They are legal and political," said Mr M ugabe.
The British government has pledged to pay £36 million for land redistribution as part of a Commonwealth agreement and the Zimbabwe government, in return, vows to maintain the rule of law and the basic principles of democracy.
Critics in Zimbabwe charge that the Mugabe government has already broken the accord. On Saturday about 150 of Mr Mugabe's supporters invaded Logan Lee farm and assaulted farmworkers and burned down 20 of the labourers' homes. They ordered the workers to stop all farm work.
In Bulawayo, where municipal elections are being held to elect a new mayor and city council, the opposition party charges that Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF is bussing in thousands of non-residents to vote. MDC officials allege that the non-resident voters were registered by the government in Harare.
Mr Mugabe claimed the agreement hammered out in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, represented a victory for Zimbabwe. He said the agreement "enables Britain to act as a partner. For the first time we speak the same language." He also said that his government's "acquisition of land will continue with international support. It is a victory for us. And a victory for the farmers who need to be compensated."
Mr Mugabe returned to Zimbabwe yesterday after 10 days on a "working holiday" in Libya. Once in Harare he met the Nigerian Foreign Minister, Mr Sule Lamido, who presented Mr Mugabe with a copy of the Abuja agreement. President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria said in Lagos that he was still waiting to hear from Mr Mugabe on the agreement.
Mr Mugabe did not say what measures his government would take to comply with the agreement's conditions that the land acquisition process must be lawful and free from violence. Nor did he describe what steps would be taken to fulfil other conditions of the accord, such as to make sure that his government holds free and fair elections.
Government critics say this is a further indication that Mr Mugabe will not uphold the conditions of the Abuja accord.
"The Abuja accord is about more than just land. It is also about maintaining a fair democracy and holding free and fair elections without violence," said Dr John Makumbe, professor of political science at the University of Zimbabwe. "I hope the Commonwealth is keeping a good record of how Mugabe is already flouting the Abuja agreement. I hope the Commonwealth will hold him accountable at the heads of government meeting in Brisbane in October. Unless the agreement stops the government's violence and subversion of democracy, it will not have resolved Zimbabwe's crisis."
Today and tomorrow in Harare Mr Mugabe is to meet President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and five other southern African leaders to discuss Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis. The leaders of the Southern African Development Community are expected to express their concern at the negative economic effect the crisis is having on the region.
