Farmers spurn British sanctuary

The Commercial Farmers’ Union in Zimbabwe has reportedly spurned an offer by Britain to help repatriate white farmers whose land has been occupied by war veterans, ‘The Herald’ newspaper reported on Friday.

The union’s president, Tim Henwood, it said had told journalists “that foreigners should desist from interfering in the land issue, as it needed a Zimbabwean solution”. Over 600 white-owned farms have been occupied during the past five weeks. Henwood insisted that local commercial farmers would not seek recourse from foreign governments.

“The land reform issue is a Zimbabwean issue and will be addressed and solved by Zimbabweans,” he was quoted as saying. “The majority of commercial farmers are Zimbabweans committed to our country and its future. We therefore believe a permanent solution will be found to the present situation very soon.”