African leaders opened a land summit in Zimbabwe today by warning President Mr Robert Mugabe that his campaign to seize white-owned farms was hurting regional economies.
"Of great concern to all of us is that, if the land issue is not urgently resolved amicably and peacefully, the economic and political problems Zimbabwe is facing now could easily snowball across the entire southern African region", Malawian President Mr Bakili Muluzi said in a prepared speech to be delivered to the summit.
Mr Muluzi, who is also the chairman of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community, is chairing the two-day talks attended by leaders from South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and ministers from Angola, Nigeria and Tanzania.
"Our other major concern is that the current increasing political instability could create a negative image for critical direct foreign investment in the region," Mr Muluzi said.
Zimbabwe has been in crisis since February last year when militants, led by veterans of the 1970s liberation war and encouraged by the state, began invading hundreds of white-owned farms across the country.