Disaster feared as black farm workers are forced to flee

Zimbabwe is facing a humanitarian disaster following the eviction of tens of thousands of black farm workers by government-backed militias, it was claimed on Friday.

The Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), which represents mainly white farmers, estimates that 70,000 black farm workers have been thrown out of their homes on white farms. "The numbers have been rising since last year. It's a really big disaster," said one union official.

Government supporters accuse the black farm workers of emulating their white employers in supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The situation has become acute in Mashonaland Central Province, where an estimated 30,000 black farm workers were this week driven off the farms.

The latest warning came as details emerged of a particularly brutal assault on a 72-year-old white farmer, his wife, aged 66, and their six black farm workers in a fresh wave of violence. Wessel Weller, a Dutch national, and his wife, Lockie were assaulted by the ruling party supporters occupying his farm in Mvurwi, 60 kilometers north of the capital Harare, on Wednesday night.

Mr Weller said that his ordeal started when he tried to stop war veterans who have occupied his property from pegging vegetable gardens in his cattle paddocks.

"I calmly urged about five war veterans to stop digging in the paddocks but to my surprise they reported to their colleagues that I had assaulted them," said Weller. He said a group of 50, wielding axes, stones and hatchets burst into his house and assaulted him and his wife. His workers were also assaulted, two seriously.

Mr Weller said he had sustained deep cuts on the hands, legs and back. He said his wife, who was trying to shield him from sticks directed at him, had also suffered wounds all over her body. "I can't believe that we are still alive in view of what happened ... we are recovering well," he said.

Last night Mr Weller, a Dutch national, returned to the farm which is still occupied by the war veterans: "We will just hang on ... we are an old couple and cannot think of starting a new life elsewhere all over again." He said he had been held hostage for seven hours after the beatings and was barred from seeking treatment.

A black worker at the farm said his six colleagues had been beaten for "behaving as if they were children of whites".

Violence has raged on Zimbabwe's commercial farms since last year and the mainly white CFU has unsuccessfully urged President Robert Mugabe to issue a statement condemning the violence. Mugabe argues that the land occupiers are merely reclaiming their land. Nine white farmers have died in the farm violence.

The Human Rights Forum, a coalition of 10 groups including Amnesty International, believes that in July 11 people died in politically motivated murders in Zimbabwe, while 61 disappeared and 288 were tortured.