Mugabe parcels out land to soldiers

Mugabe parcels out land to soldiers

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE President Robert Mugabe said on Tuesday his government planned to allocate land to 6,000 members of the armed forces under a controversial land redistribution programme.

Mugabe has clashed with Western countries, led by former colonial ruler Britain, over his drive to seize large tracts of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution among blacks Harare says were dispossessed in colonial times.

On Tuesday the veteran leader, in power since independence in 1980, said 6,000 officers from the army and airforce would be given land under the exercise, which started in 2000.

"The responsible authorities are indeed looking into the matter with a view to allocating land to these remaining deserving cadres," Mugabe told supporters at an annual rally to commemorate Defence Forces day.

Critics says disruptions to the agriculture sector linked to the land seizures have led to chronic food shortages over the past five years, but Mugabe blames drought.

Mugabe also said 600 officers had been allocated stands to build houses under a reconstruction programme the government embarked on after its destruction of slums in urban centres.

The United Nations says the crackdown left at least 700,000 people either homeless, without a livelihood or both, but Mugabe's government insists the exercise was necessary to rid the country of slums it says had become a haven for illegal trade in scant commodities.300 Zimbabwe dollars to 300 000 Zimbabwe dollars a term - Reuters
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