Zimbabwe seen stepping up farm seizures

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The few remaining white farmers in Zimbabwe are being subjected to land grabs as President Robert Mugabe prepares to share power with opponents, sources say.

Legal sources told The Times of London that up to 60 white farmers have endured sometimes violent attempts to drive them from their farms since Mugabe signed a power-sharing deal with Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change last month.

The new incidents seem to be the last gasp in such efforts that have seen the number of white Zimbabwe farming families shrink from about 4,500 eight years ago to about 400, the newspaper said. Opposition leaders say Mugabe's paramilitary followers have killed farmers and laid waste to their lands in an attempt to rescue him from losing an election.

"There has been a mad rush for free pickings; we are getting reports on a daily basis," David Drury, a lawyer for dispossessed white farmers, told The Times.