White farmer shot dead in Zimbabwe

HARARE, APRIL 16. Squatters occupying white-owned land in Zimbabwe shot a white farmer to death, farm leaders said today.

Mr. David Stevens was abducted from his occupied property near Macheke, 120 km east of Harare, the capital, and driven into the bush where he was shot dead, said Commercial Farmers Union officials.

They said Mr. Stevens was the first white farmer killed in a tense standoff between landowners and squatters backed by the President, Mr. Robert Mugabe's ruling party.

Four of Mr. Stevens' neighbours who went to his assistance after he was confronted by squatters yesterday were abducted and their whereabouts were not immediately known.

A fifth neighbour, identified as Mr. John Osborne, witnessed the shooting of Mr. Stevens, who was hit in the head and back by shotgun blasts, the union said. Mr. Osborne was beaten by the assailants and was being treated in a hospital. It was unclear how Mr. Osborne escaped.

The death of the white farmer is expected to deepen the crisis that began at the end of February.

Meanwhile, Mr. Robert Mugabe said he would not order the war veterans to leave white-owned farms. ``I know there is an expectation that I will say to the war veterans get off the land. I will not say or do that,'' he told about 1,000 supporters who welcomed him home from the Group of 77 economic summit in Cuba.

- AP, Reuters

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Section  : International
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