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Government curtails evictions of squatters

    JOHANNESBURG

    The Zimbabwean government has condemned a police operation to evict war veterans and illegal squatters from white-owned farms, news reports said on Thursday. The government said the police used excessive force in the three days of evictions.

    Jonathan Moyo, chief spokesman in President Robert Mugabe’s office, said: “The government regrets and takes full responsibility for the manner in which the police have sought to evict homeless families.” In a statement broadcast on state radio and television, Moyo said police had demolished and burnt homes built by the veterans.

    Moyo said the government intended to remove illegal occupiers from white-owned farms not among about 3,000 properties targeted for confiscation and handing over to landless blacks, but that it would be done gradually and “within the usual standards of human dignity and common decency”. He said the government was considering paying compensation to the squatters “exploring various other ways of assisting the affected families”.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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