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Abuja Accord to Speed up Land Reform in Zimbabwe
The recently-reached accord in Abuja will not delay the land reform program in Zimbabwe, instead it will speed it up as white commercial farmers who have been contesting the acquisition of their farms are expected to withdraw their cases from court, Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge has said.
In an interview with the Sunday Mail on Saturday, the minister said he hoped that the white commercial farmers would welcome the decision contained in the Abuja accord and withdraw their legal contest to the land reform exercise.
"I hope they will withdraw their contests in the courts so that the government can proceed with the exercise without any disturbances," he said.
"The decision in Abuja will not stop us or even delay us from implementing the land reform exercise. We will acquire the land that we want legally," the minister said.
However, he said there should be no new farm occupations as this was no longer necessary.
Mudenge said he hoped that the funding from Britain would come before the rain season so that the resettled farmers can start tilling their land.
"We will be satisfied with adequate resources and we hope Britain will fulfill its promise that it will provide significant resources," he said.
"Australia and Canada also made a commitment to contributing towards land reform in the country," he said.
The government would announce the way forward once President Robert Mugabe has studied the report from Abuja, added the minister.
Zimbabwean President Hails Abuja Land Initiative Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe Sunday described the Abuja land initiative as a victory for both his government and white farmers, saying it is important that the meeting accepted that land was at the core issue of the conflict between blacks and whites in the country.
After being briefed by Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister Sule Lamido on the land agreement reached between Zimbabwe and Britain in Abuja, Nigeria, last Thursday, Mugabe said although the land issue had taken other dimensions, the Abuja meeting had noted that at the core of the conflict was land issue which had not been properly resolved by the British.
"It is a victory for us and the farmers because they need to be compensated," he said.
He said it was pleasing that Britain had now come on board as it had in the past shown unwillingness to discuss the land issue with Zimbabwe.
Mugabe said it was critical to Zimbabwe that the Abuja initiative accepted that the land issue be resolved according to the country's laws and constitution.
"It is going to be settled by us as the government on the basis of our constitution and law," he said.
He said it would be redundant for people to talk about human rights, rule of law and other freedoms when the Abuja initiative accepted that the issue be resolved through the Zimbabwean context.
On the issue of occupations, Mugabe said the government had been working in stages in resettling people and had told those on undesignated farms to move to designated farms.
He said the government did not condone violence on the farms, saying the government wanted all those involved punished.
Mugabe expressed the hope that the farming community would accept the legality of the government's program and discuss with it if they were not satisfied.
A culture of dialogue, he said, must exist between the government and farmers and the government wanted normalcy on the farms as the farming season drew nearer.
"We were fighting for the farmers to be compensated and they should have realized that long back," he said.
On the process of implementing the Abuja initiative, Mugabe said it would have to go through Cabinet and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front's supreme law making body, the political bureau.
He said the government would continue acquiring land with the assistance from the British government.
Under the Abuja agreement, the British government made undertaking to fund Zimbabwe's land reforms substantially.
This would enable the Zimbabwean government to pay full compensation to white farmers whose farms were acquired for resettlement but the government has already hinted that it would resort to its earlier position of only paying for developments on farms in the absence of Britain.
The Abuja meeting chaired by Lamido was attended by foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, Jamaica, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia and Commonwealth Secretary-general Don Mckinnon.
Zimbabwean White Farmers Welcome Abuja Land Accord Colin Cloete, president of the Zimbabwean Commercial Farmers Union, said Sunday his union had learnt with optimism of the agreement on land reached in Abuja, Nigeria, between Zimbabwe and Britain.
"We would like to commend (Nigerian) President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chairman Sule Lamido (Nigerian Foreign Minister) with the ministerial delegations for their efforts in this mediation," said Cloete in a statement.
"We also consider as positive the acceptance by our government of the offer made by the Zimbabwe Joint Resettlement Initiative farmer's team in the form of the 1 million hectares of land for resettlement acquisition on an uncontested basis," he said.
With these two essential elements, he said, farmers believed that they had the basic ingredients for a homegrown and internationally accepted solution to the Zimbabwe's land crisis.
It was critical to implement the agreement as quickly as possible to enable Zimbabwe to maximize production and minimize impending food deficits and foreign currency shortages, he said.
"To this end we urge that speedy communication to all levels of society is done to rebuild confidence and to underscore our achievements as Zimbabweans," he said.
He said: "We have great confidence in the ability of our government to implement the agreement and we are happy to see that they acknowledge the necessity to return to the rule of law for all Zimbabweans," he said.
"As farmers, we once again affirm our commitment as loyal Zimbabweans and we stand ready to play our part in the resettlement program," he said.
Farmers looked forward to positive steps on the ground to support a successful implementation of the Abuja agreement, he added.
Zimbabwe and Britain reached the agreement at a Commonwealth meeting on the Zimbabwe land crisis on September 6.
Under the agreement, Britain agreed to make available money to fund Zimbabwe's land reform program and Zimbabwe consented to have strings attached and to be accountable in the conduct of next year 's presidential elections.
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