 |
Zimbabwe Agrees to Halt Occupations of White-Owned Farms
Zimbabwe has agreed to halt occupations of the white-owned farms and was committed to restoring the rule of law to the process of land reform aimed at ending the lingering land crisis.
The agreement was reached at the end of a special Commonwealth meeting on the Zimbabwe land crisis, which took place on Thursday in Nigeria's capital Abuja.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and his Zimbabwean counterpart Stan Mudenge attended the Abuja meeting.
According to a conference communique, Britain also agreed to make available money to fund Zimbabwe's land reform program and Zimbabwe has agreed to have strings attached.
The communique welcomed the reaffirmation of Britain's commitment to a significant financial contribution to such a land reform program and its undertaking to encourage other international donors to do the same.
"A program of land reform is therefore crucial to the resolution of the problem."
At the meeting, the Zimbabwean delegation also agreed to an acceleration of discussions with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with a view to reaching agreement as quickly as possible, while Britain promised to put money into a fund administered by the UNDP to compensate white farmers for seized farmland.
The meeting called for Zimbabwe's international partners "to engage constructively with the UNDP and the government of Zimbabwe in pursuing an effective and sustainable land reform program on the basis of the UNDP proposal of December 2000", said the communique.
It also urged the international community to respond positively to any request from the government of Zimbabwe in support of next year's presidential elections.
The communique said: "The Commonwealth did acknowledge that land was at the core of the crisis in Zimbabwe and cannot be separated from other issues of concern to the Commonwealth such as the rule of law, respect for human rights, democracy and the economy."
On the eve of the meeting, Zimbabwe insisted that the major agenda should deal solely with the land reform program, while Britain demanded that the scope be enlarged to accommodate the " critical issues of democracy, good governance, human rights and the rule of law".
However, officials attending the meeting said the positions of the two countries are being harmonized after Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo brought the Zimbabwean delegation back to the table earlier in the day.
The Abuja meeting is being attended by Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon and ministers from eight Commonwealth countries, namely Australia, Britain, Canada, Kenya, Jamaica, Nigeria South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The meeting is taking place on the eve of a special southern Africa mini-conference in Zimbabwe next Monday, and a full Commonwealth heads-of-government summit in October in Brisbane, Australia
In his remarks on the agreement on land crisis, Nigerian Foreign Minister Alhaji Sule Lamido said the latest development is positive, adding: "There has been a total breakthrough."
However, Lamido told reporters the agreement did not formally published until it had been submitted to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe on Wednesday has accepted a land offer from white farmers aimed at breaking an impasse over the country's land reform program.
In the plan, the white Commercial Farmers Union offered to drop legal challenges to the government's land reform program and to help organize financing the resettlement of black farmers as part of the deal.
Britain has spearheaded international criticism of the government of President Mugabe over its handling of the land issue and the general political crisis in the southeastern African country.
In This Section
|