African tribunal deals blow to Zimbabwe land seizures

African tribunal deals blow to Zimbabwe land seizures

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A REGIONAL African tribunal has ordered Zimbabwe to halt its seizure of a farmer’s land, dealing a blow to President Robert Mugabe and threatening to draw his neighbours into a heated land redistribution debate.

A three-person Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal unanimously ruled in favour of Zimbabwean farmer Mike Campbell, who had asked the court in the Namibian capital Windhoek to stop the confiscation of his family’s farm.

Campbell had filed an urgent application for relief earlier this week, saying he had exhausted his legal options in Zimbabwe.

Lawyers for Zimbabwe’s government rejected his argument.

“The tribunal grants the application pending the determination of the main case and orders that the Republic of Zimbabwe shall take no steps ... to evict from or interfere with the peaceful residence on and the beneficial use of the farm known as Mount Carmell,” the tribunal said in its ruling.

It set a January 22 date for the case to be heard.

Mugabe’s government, often accused of human rights abuses, stifling political dissent and running Zimbabwe’s economy into the ground, has seized thousands of white-owned farms and redistributed the land to blacks since 2000.

SADC, a regional grouping of 14 African nations that includes Zimbabwe, is trying to mediate an end to a political and economic crisis in the southern African nation that threatens to destabilise the region. – Reuters
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