More Zimbabwe farmers arrested

Farmers refuse to turn their backs on their land

Some 29 white farmers are reported to have been arrested in Zimbabwe for failing to leave their homes in defiance of a government eviction order.

President Mugabe's government has ordered that the vast majority of the country's 4,000 white commercial farms be handed over to black farmers as part of its controversial land reform programme.

A spokesman for a farmers' lobby group said the government was criminalising people who had done nothing more than farm the land.

	Zimbabwe's land reform 2000: 4,000 whites own 70% of prime land 1890-1980: Black peasants were moved to less fertile areas during the colonial area March 2000: "War veterans" occupy white-owned farms 2000-2002: Several white farmers and black workers killed during violence 9 August 2002: 3,000 white farmers must leave their homes Guide to Zimbabwe's land question

One of those arrested is reported to be 77 years old.

A correspondent for the BBC says that the police failed to intervene when two whites were beaten up by government supporters demanding the keys to their building.

Earlier five farmers had their case remanded until September, after they appeared before magistrates.

The farmers argue the seizure of their property violates the constitution of Zimbabwe.

The arrests come as a meeting of black commercial farmers endorsed the land reform programme.

Mr Silas Hungwe, president of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, said his members were "itching to prove to the white farmers that they too have the ability to feed the nation".

Diary of a white farmer

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Meanwhile, Britain's Foreign Office said a number of Britons had been refused entry at Harare airport in Zimbabwe and turned back.

Land grabs

The case of the five who appeared before a magistrate in Gwanda, in the south-west of the country, was remanded until 6 September, to allow the defence to prepare their case.

A spokesman for their group, Mark Crawford, said they were the first of about 50 farmers in the area who are expecting to be served with a summons.

He and his colleagues had gone back to their farms soon after their initial court hearing this morning.

''I am back at my farm. I have nowhere to go, this farm is all I got and will fight through the courts to stay here,'' he told the BBC.

Tension has been mounting in Zimbabwe since Wednesday as pro-government militants began to force defiant farmers to leave their land.

The government, however, says that the occupations have been staged by the farmers in order to increase international pressure on Zimbabwe.

On Monday, Mr Mugabe repeated that all farmers must leave this month, so that black farmers could move in and prepare the land before the rainy season begins in October.

Production down

Foreign donors say the land reform programme has contributed to Zimbabwe's food crisis.

Up to half of the population - six million people - need food aid this year, aid agencies say.

Since March 2000, many white-owned farms have been occupied by government supporters.

Eleven white farmers have been killed, along with an unknown number of their black workers.

The disruption to farming has dramatically cut production of the staple food, maize, and Zimbabwe's major export - tobacco.

Much of Zimbabwe's best land is owned by whites as a result of colonial-era policies.