Zimbabwe veterans defy court order

Veterans have invaded more than 500 farms

War veterans leading the occupation of more than 500 white-owned farms in Zimbabwe have ignored a court deadline to leave.

The veterans and their supporters said they were extending their action, defying a High Court order on Friday which gave them 24 hours' notice to end their occupation.

Zimbabwe's minister of information, Chen Chimuntengwende, told the BBC that he did not expect the veterans to obey the court.

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He said white landowners treated blacks like animals when they took away their land during white rule.

He said President Mugabe would give a formal response to the court's ruling soon.

Earlier, one veteran leader, Joseph Chinotimba, told hundreds of supporters in Harare that if police tried to enforce the court order, then harvesting on commercial farms could be disrupted, state-controlled radio reported.

Constitutional clash

The properties have been occupied over the past several weeks after voters rejected a new draft constitution which would have given the government the power to seize white-owned land without paying for it.

Last week, President Mugabe backed the farm invasions saying: "We want the whites to learn that the land belongs to Zimbabweans."

The High Court ruling declaring the occupations illegal, could signal a fresh constitutional clash between the judiciary and the government.

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The court also ordered the commissioner of police to disregard any instruction from any "person holding executive power in Zimbabwe" which countered the eviction order - an apparent reference to President Mugabe's comments.

Opposition protest

A demonstration in Harare on Saturday by about 1,000 supporters of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, passed peacefully.

Protesters called for the war veterans' leader, Chenjerai Hunzvi, to be jailed and President Mugabe to resign.

They carried banners warning Mr Mugabe that his party faced defeat in parliamentary elections scheduled for April.

President Mugabe took power in 1980 after a guerrilla war against white minority rule.

Some former guerrillas have threatened a return to hostilities if the government of President Robert Mugabe is defeated at the ballot box.