Zimbabwe veterans' boss gets suspended term
and fine
Story
Zimbabwe veterans' boss gets suspended term
and fine
May 19, 2000
Web posted at: 9:21 AM EDT (1321 GMT)
HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe independence war
veterans' leader Chenjerai Hunzvi was given a suspended jail
sentence and fined Friday for defying a court order to end forcible
takeovers of white-owned farms.
The relatively lenient sentence appeared to ease fears that
continuing political violence in Zimbabwe would be exacerbated if
Hunzvi had been jailed.
Twenty-three people have been killed in three months of violence
that threatens parliamentary elections set for June 24-25, which
pit President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF against a
revitalized opposition headed by trade unionist Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Incidents have included attacks on MDC
supporters which the opposition says are
the work of ZANU-PF.
The most recent killings include the
murder of two people believed to be MDC
supporters in a clash with ZANU-PF backers Wednesday in the
northeastern district of Mudzi.
Meanwhile, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported that
Mugabe had banned former colonial power Britain from sending
monitors to the elections.
It quoted the president, in Mauritius for a regional economic
summit, as saying: "We will welcome any observer team, as long as
they don't include a single Briton. The British should not care to
send anyone."
A trigger for the violence has been a wave of invasions of
white-owned farms by veterans of the 1970s liberation war in the
former Rhodesia, led by Hunzvi.
Veterans have seized more than 800 farms since February, saying
the land was stolen from blacks by British colonialists.
A judge last month found Hunzvi in contempt of court for failing
to end the occupations.
Friday, Judge David Bartlett sentenced Hunzvi to a three-month
jail term suspended for a year, fined him $262 and ordered him to
meet legal costs of the trial.
"Ordinarily, the court would have imposed an effective jail term
but there are factors...that required the court to take a more
lenient position," Bartlett said.
Earlier a lawyer for the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), which
represents 4,500 white farmers, appealed to Bartlett not to send
Hunzvi to jail saying "the issuing of a custodial sentence is totally
undesirable in these circumstances."
Opposition activists accuse the government of exploiting the land
issue to counter the first real opposition challenge Mugabe and
ZANU-PF have faced in 20 years of independence.
The Herald quoted Mugabe, 76, as saying he had spelled out his
ban on British election observers in talks with Commonwealth
chief Don McKinnon, who visited Zimbabwe this week.
Britain has criticized the farm invasions and traded harsh words
with Mugabe, with a British minister questioning his stability and
the Zimbabwe president calling London the "enemy."
But Roger Moore, head of the European Union's southern Africa
division, told a news conference in Harare the EU planned to
deploy 160 election monitors, including Britons.
"What's important to us is that there's a strong and substantial
European Union presence to observe the elections. Britain is part
of the EU and one would certainly hope that Britain will provide
observers for our group," he said.
Mugabe said he had told the United States it could send observers
if it wished.
Relations between Zimbabwe and Britain have deteriorated
sharply over Mugabe's demand that the former colonial power pay
compensation for land he plans to take from white farmers.
Britain has said it is ready to provide 36 million pounds ($54
million) to fund land reform and rally international support for
Zimbabwe, but wants an end to the violence and land occupations
first.
~USP
and fine
Story
Zimbabwe veterans' boss gets suspended term
and fine
May 19, 2000
Web posted at: 9:21 AM EDT (1321 GMT)
HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe independence war
veterans' leader Chenjerai Hunzvi was given a suspended jail
sentence and fined Friday for defying a court order to end forcible
takeovers of white-owned farms.
The relatively lenient sentence appeared to ease fears that
continuing political violence in Zimbabwe would be exacerbated if
Hunzvi had been jailed.
Twenty-three people have been killed in three months of violence
that threatens parliamentary elections set for June 24-25, which
pit President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF against a
revitalized opposition headed by trade unionist Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Incidents have included attacks on MDC
supporters which the opposition says are
the work of ZANU-PF.
The most recent killings include the
murder of two people believed to be MDC
supporters in a clash with ZANU-PF backers Wednesday in the
northeastern district of Mudzi.
Meanwhile, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported that
Mugabe had banned former colonial power Britain from sending
monitors to the elections.
It quoted the president, in Mauritius for a regional economic
summit, as saying: "We will welcome any observer team, as long as
they don't include a single Briton. The British should not care to
send anyone."
A trigger for the violence has been a wave of invasions of
white-owned farms by veterans of the 1970s liberation war in the
former Rhodesia, led by Hunzvi.
Veterans have seized more than 800 farms since February, saying
the land was stolen from blacks by British colonialists.
A judge last month found Hunzvi in contempt of court for failing
to end the occupations.
Friday, Judge David Bartlett sentenced Hunzvi to a three-month
jail term suspended for a year, fined him $262 and ordered him to
meet legal costs of the trial.
"Ordinarily, the court would have imposed an effective jail term
but there are factors...that required the court to take a more
lenient position," Bartlett said.
Earlier a lawyer for the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), which
represents 4,500 white farmers, appealed to Bartlett not to send
Hunzvi to jail saying "the issuing of a custodial sentence is totally
undesirable in these circumstances."
Opposition activists accuse the government of exploiting the land
issue to counter the first real opposition challenge Mugabe and
ZANU-PF have faced in 20 years of independence.
The Herald quoted Mugabe, 76, as saying he had spelled out his
ban on British election observers in talks with Commonwealth
chief Don McKinnon, who visited Zimbabwe this week.
Britain has criticized the farm invasions and traded harsh words
with Mugabe, with a British minister questioning his stability and
the Zimbabwe president calling London the "enemy."
But Roger Moore, head of the European Union's southern Africa
division, told a news conference in Harare the EU planned to
deploy 160 election monitors, including Britons.
"What's important to us is that there's a strong and substantial
European Union presence to observe the elections. Britain is part
of the EU and one would certainly hope that Britain will provide
observers for our group," he said.
Mugabe said he had told the United States it could send observers
if it wished.
Relations between Zimbabwe and Britain have deteriorated
sharply over Mugabe's demand that the former colonial power pay
compensation for land he plans to take from white farmers.
Britain has said it is ready to provide 36 million pounds ($54
million) to fund land reform and rally international support for
Zimbabwe, but wants an end to the violence and land occupations
first.
~USP