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Zimbabwean FM Welcomes Abuja Land Reform Agreement
Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge Wednesday said the Abuja agreement on Zimbabwe's land reform program brokered last week by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was a welcome move which would see speed redistribution of land to landless Zimbabweans.
Mudenge told the parliament that it was now left to the British government to provide the funds to compensate white commercial farmers.
"If they do not give us the money we are not going to pay for the land," he said.
The Abuja agreement outlined that Zimbabwe's former colonial master, Britain, would provide and mobilize funding for resettlement from the international community as a partner in resolving the land issue.
The agreement said the program would be carried out within the laws of the country.
Relations between Britain and Zimbabwe had been at their lowest ebb because of differences on how the land reform program should be carried out.
Zimbabwe insisted that it would not compensate white commercial farmers for taking their farms since the land was stolen from black Zimbabweans during the colonial period.
Mudenge said the workers on white commercial farms would be looked after by the government if the British give money to Zimbabwe for the land resettlement program.
Mudenge was answering a question raised by parliamentarian of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Munyaradzi Gwisai who sought to know the fate of farm workers on designated commercial farms.
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