Donors won’t fund illegal land reform - EU

Donors said they would not fund an illegal land reform programme despite comments by Zimbabwean government officials this week that the donor community would support its fast-track land reform programme, the 'Zimbabwe Independent' said on Friday.

This week information minister Jonathan Moyo, in a televised programme on the Abuja agreement, said that money would be "forthcoming" to support the current land programme. On Thursday the European Union, one of the key multilateral donors, said there had been no commitment to support the fast-track land reform programme, the newspaper reported.

EU spokesman in Harare Alex Kremer was quoted as saying that the EU would support a fair, transparent and sustainable programme. "The European Commission recognises the inequity of Zimbabwe’s agrarian structure, its historical origin and the need to redress the imbalance," said Kremer. "It agrees that land reform can contribute to poverty reduction and is essential for stability. The EC would therefore support land reform, including non-governmental initiatives, provided that these are
implemented in a transparent, fair and sustainable manner, with respect for the law, broadened stakeholder as well as beneficiary participation and the inclusion of community-based land-redistribution initiatives," he said.

In reference to whether or not the current land reform programme met with EU requirements, he said: "We are not currently able to fund a programme."

Meanwhile, the British High Commission said on Thursday that funding would only be made available to support a legal land reform programme. Spokesman Richard Lindsay said Abuja was very clear that Zimbabwe should proceed on the basis of a legal agrarian process. "We would fund a programme that is legal and that is clearly stated in Abuja. The Supreme Court has said the fast-track is illegal," he was quoted as saying. Lindsay said the Zimbabwe government appeared to have a "different interpretation" of Abuja from everybody else.