Government warns against economic threats over land

President Robert Mugabe said his government was ready for talks with Britain over land reform, but would not succumb to threats of economic sanctions, Reuters reported on Friday. “We have suffered before and we are prepared to suffer more even if the world imposes sanctions on us. We will suffer but we won’t go down,” Mugabe was quoted telling outgoing British High Commissioner Peter Longworth on Thursday. Mugabe’s warning came ahead of next month’s proposed meeting of a seven-strong ministerial mission to try to break the deadlock over land, the report said. Mugabe has agreed to the Nigerian-led mediation effort, and said Zimbabwe and Britain had in the past resolved disputes through dialogue. But he said Zimbabwe would not beg for a settlement with Britain on the land issue. “We are not pleading to continue to be friends of Britain if Britain doesn’t want that friendship anymore,” Mugabe said.

Zimbabwe, which gained independence in 1980, is in the middle of a deepening political and economic crisis after a campaign last year by self-styled Zimbabwean independence war veterans to seize white-owned farms. Britain led international criticism of the land programme, which caused an uproar among nations that donated foreign aid to Zimbabwe. Longworth was quoted in the state-controlled ‘Herald’ on Friday saying that Britain was ready to “get down to dialogue”. “No one wants to see a situation develop in this country where people suffer because of our differences,” he said. The mediation mission comprises foreign ministers from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Australia and Britain. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said last week the mission hoped to meet in July in South Africa.

‘The Financial Gazette’ reported on Thursday that the EU had given Mugabe’s government 60 days to end political violence and the illegal occupation of farms or face tough penalties. By Friday, the government had not yet responded to queries regarding the ultimatum. The weekly newspaper reported that in a declaration on Zimbabwe after a meeting on Monday at the EU’s Brussels headquarters, the EU council of ministers said it wanted “rapid and tangible results” several issues.
Diplomatic sources told the newspaper that the declaration by the influential council, which comprises foreign ministers of all 15 EU states, was the toughest signal yet to the government to get its act together or face punitive economic sanctions.