Zimbabwe threatens action against white farmers

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Farmers will "live to regret" their defiance of government orders to abandon their land, Zimbabwean officials warned Saturday.

Nearly 3,000 white farmers were ordered to leave their property by Friday as part of a plan to seize white-owned lands and turn them over to blacks. No serious measures have been taken yet against farmers who have defied the deadline.

But Co-Vice President Joseph Msika, head of Zimbabwe's land reform task force, told state television late Friday that farmers refusing to leave their land would "live to regret it."

Chombo said "appropriate measures" would be taken against farmers breaking the law.

Vice President Simon Muzenda warned that authorities would act firmly against farmers opposing the "irreversible" land program.

"You are told by government what we want done ... and you simply do that," he told state radio Saturday.

The evictions deadline came as half of Zimbabwe's 12.5 million people face a severe hunger crisis, according to the World Food Program. The WFP blames the crisis on drought combined with the agricultural chaos caused by the seizures of commercial farms, which are mainly owned by whites.

The government has targeted 95 percent of white-owned farms for seizure.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department on Saturday denounced Zimbabwe's attempt to evict the farmers and thousands of farm workers as "a reckless and reprehensible act."

"These actions by the government of Zimbabwe, in combination with its assault on its political opponents, have destroyed Zimbabwe's economy, undermined the nation's democratic institutions and accelerated the onset of severe food shortages," the statement said, urging the Zimbabwean government to reverse its stand.

In neighboring South Africa, there were calls for African countries to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe in response to the evictions.

"President Mugabe has become the 'tin-pot dictator' of the south. ... As Zimbabwe's regional and continental neighbors, we must act decisively to end the madness which continues to threaten the stability of our region and the welfare of so many southern Africans," New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said.

No attempts were made across the country Friday or Saturday to force farmers off their land, said the Commercial Farmers Union, which represents 4,000 white farmers.

The union reported two incidents Friday in eastern Zimbabwe in which ruling party militants and blacks who had resettled on seized land tried to pressure white farmers to leave.

Police intervened and defused the confrontation, officials said.

The union said many farmers had packed up personal belongings and valuables for safekeeping ahead of the deadline, but up to three-fourths of those who faced immediate eviction vowed to stay until it became clear what the government was going to do.

Justice for Agriculture, a newly formed lobbying group that has called on farmers to challenge evictions in court, said about 800 farmers abandoned their land in recent weeks as the deadline approached.

Another 300 farmers had taken impromptu vacations at the start of symbolic annual weekend celebrations honoring the guerrilla war that ended white rule and led to independence in 1980, the group said.

The government says its land program is an effort to correct colonial era injustices. Critics say it is part of the increasingly authoritarian government's effort to maintain power amid more than two years of economic chaos and political violence mainly blamed on the ruling party.

Last year, the annual independence war celebrations triggered a wave of attacks and looting on white farms by black militants and guerrilla veterans.