Zimbabwe government pays white farmers

The Zimbabwean government says its begun paying compensation to white farmers whose land has been seized as part of its controversial resettlement programme.

The agriculture minister , Joseph Made, told state-run media that the authorities had paid for improvements to the land, such as buildings, and not for the land itself.

He gave no further details.

The Commercial Farmers' Union, thousands of whose members have had their farms occupied over the past year by government supporters, described the move as insignificant.

A union spokesman said limited payments had been made to a handful of farmers.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service