Britain has dismissed as 'patent nonsense' accusations by Zimbabwe that UK diplomats organised the looting of white-owned farms as part of a plot to justify foreign intervention against Robert Mugabe's government.
The Herald newspaper in Harare, a propaganda sheet under the control of the unpredictable information minister, Jonathan Moyo, trumpeted the accusation on its front page yesterday. It alleged that British diplomats had colluded with white farmers to destroy their own farms in an effort to discredit the Zimbabwean authorities.
'The British high commission in Harare and white commercial farmers have been implicated in the looting on commercial farms in Mhangura and Chinhoyi as part of a plot to justify international intervention in the country's affairs,' the Herald said. 'The looting and evacuations were systematically planned and none of the farmers were attacked, while aerial pictures were being taken by private planes for broadcasting internationally and on the Internet.' The paper said farmers had gone so far as to invite their own workers to loot dozens of homesteads. The paper named a first secretary at the high commission in Harare, Richard Lindsay, as among British diplomats who were in the Chinhoyi area where the violence led hundreds of people to flee in what the victims say was an attempt at ethnic cleansing of whites.
The high commission issued a statement denying the charge. 'Allegations that British high commission staff have been involved in the lawlessness and looting are completely without foundation and are patent nonsense,' it said.
A British official said Mr Lindsay visited Chinhoyi because one of 21 farmers arrested for allegedly attacking black settlers on redistributed farmland is a British citizen. Hamish Barkley had requested consular assistance and the high commission had a duty to respond, the official said.
The 21 farmers were remanded in custody for an 11th night yesterday while a high court judge in Harare considered a plea for their release on bail after a magistrate turned it down last week. A defence lawyer, Firoz Girach, argued that the farmers face a relatively minor charge of public violence with a maximum fine of Z$500 (£1.50 sterling).
'The conditions upon which bail is rejected by the state are not bona fide. It is purely designed to continue with the harassment of these persons,' Mr Girach told the court. He said the magistrate in Chinhoyi who denied the farmers bail had failed to take into account that six of the detained men had been arrested 'to placate the hostile crowd' outside a police station where they had gone to check on their colleagues' welfare. He said the farmers had wrongly been denied access to their own clothes, food and washing facilities, and had their heads shaved.
The state prosecutor, Ben Chidenga, said the farmers' release was likely to spark further violence. The judge, Rita Makarau, will announce her decision this morning.
The editor-in-chief of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, Geoff Nyarota, and three of his staff detained on Wednesday were released after a high court judge ruled the charges illegal. They had been charged with spreading 'alarm and despondency' for a report alleging that police vehicles were used during the looting of farms. Last night, new charges were issued against them.
President Mugabe drew criticism from neighbouring countries at a regional summit this week over fears that the growing economic crisis - with rampant inflation, a collapsing currency and a serious food shortage looming - could spill across its borders.
Mr Mugabe failed to persuade other members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to issue a statement of support for his land policies. Instead, the 14-member organisation announced the formation of a 'task team' led by South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, which may amount to an attempt to put pressure on Mr Mugabe to curtail policies which threaten to destabilize the region. The summit also voted to withdraw Mr Mugabe's chairmanship of the organisation's defence body.