Farmers launch petition to stop killings

South African farmers launched a petition on Wednesday to put pressure on the government to halt attacks on farms and the murder of farmers and their workers, news reports said on Thursday. According to reports since 1994 about 800 people have been murdered in some 5,000 attacks on South African farms. Werner Weber, chairman of a panel representing organised farming was quoted as saying: "We want to create and engineer the political will, not just to curb farm killings, but to stop them." Weber said there were 40,000 to 50,000 mainly white commercial farmers in South Africa. He said the petition would also be taken to the United Nations, the European Union, the US Senate, offshore business and non-governmental organisations to put pressure on President Thabo Mbeki's government to act.