08/14/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10066

DEADLINE IN ZIMBABWE

Last week, a deadline passed for some one thousand-eight hundred of Zimbabwe's remaining commercial farmers to vacate their farms and homesteads.

Beginning in February 2000, the government of President Robert Mugabe has orchestrated the violent and chaotic destruction of Zimbabwe's commercial agriculture economy.

Earlier this year, President Mugabe set an August 8^th deadline for commercial farmers to hand over their land to the government -- without compensation. Since the deadline passed, forty percent of the farmers have reportedly vacated their land. The rest face prison terms if they refuse to comply.

At a time when six million Zimbabweans are without adequate food supplies, the government's campaign to evict thousands of commercial farmers and farm workers is a reckless and reprehensible act. This action, in combination with the government's assault on political opponents, has destroyed Zimbabwe's economy, undermined the nation's democratic institutions, and accelerated the onset of severe food shortages facing Zimbabwe and the region.

The United States recognizes the need for genuine land reform in Zimbabwe, and would support a rational and equitable program to achieve it. But the current campaign of forced expulsions and violent property seizures takes Zimbabwe in the opposite direction. There are credible reports that senior government figures are assuming ownership of expropriated commercial farms. This further reveals the cynicism of President Mugabe's so-called land reform program.

The Government of Zimbabwe's latest assault on its commercial farms and food production only worsens an already bleak situation that is a national tragedy for Zimbabwe. The United States again calls upon the government of Zimbabwe to reverse course. Zimbabwe's recovery can only come through genuine democratic reform, renewed respect for the rule of law, and vigorous protection of human rights. The Mugabe regime is failing on all three counts.