Election observers into the fray

The head of the European Union (EU) observer mission in Zimbabwe has warned that the conduct of the 24-25 June parliamentary elections would have a profound effect on the country's
relations with Europe.

Pierre Schori, a former Swedish government minister, said the 200 EU observers would be deployed in urban and rural constituencies throughout the country in an effort to deter intimidation and create a suitable environment for the vote.

Shortly after his warning at a news conference this week, independence war veterans spearheading the occupation of more than 1,000 white-owned farms in turn cautioned international observers that they had no business getting involved in the land issue.

Violence in rural areas since the government lost a referendum in February has claimed at least 28 lives, most of them supporters of the opposition Movement for democratic Change (MDC) and farm employees. Human rights groups told IRIN that 250 schools had been forced to close because of intimidation
against teachers by the veterans and supporters of President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party.

"The international observers must stick to the elections, because if they start to monitor the land issue they will be creating violence, because they will be interfering with our constitutional right to land which is not the purpose for their visit to Zimbabwe," Andrew Ndlovu, of the Zimbabwe national Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) told a news conference on Tuesday.

Observers from the Commonwealth and the regional Southern African
Development Community (SADC) are also monitoring the elections. Chenjerai Hunzvi, leader of the ZMLWVA told reporters observers would be "violating" their terms of reference because "their brief is not to monitor whites relinquishing their farms". Observers going to occupied farms, he added, "will meet resistance".