More Deaths And Mourning
Two more members of Zimbabwe's political opposition were reported killed Tuesday.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman Nomore Sibanda, said one man was beaten to death in Shamva, about 50 miles northeast of Harare, and another was killed in the capital.
The news came as more than 500 mourners of white farmers and their families attended a memorial service Tuesday in Harare for David Stevens, who was abducted from his farm, beaten and shot last week by self-styled liberation war veterans occupying white-owned farms.
In a statement read on behalf of Steven's wife Maria, she said, "I hope for the sake of the ones that have lost their lives, including David, that something good will come out of this dreadful and intimidating situation, and that our troubled country can go back to its normal, happy self and get the change we all deserve."
Tuesday's killings bring the number of supporters killed to six in the past two weeks of violence.
During a stop in Paris Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the situation in Zimbabwe was dangerous and could deteriorate if mishandled.
He added that he spoke to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe about land problems and encouraged them to reduce the tension.
Squatters and ruling party supporters have seized around 1,000 white-owned farms in what they say is a protest against unequal land distribution, but what critics say is a bid by President Robert Mugabe to rally supporters and intimidate opponents.
Travelling in convoy for protection and with assurances from those who have occupied their farms that they would not be harmed, many white Zimbabwians returned to their homes Sunday. The checked with each other along the way by radio that the coast was clear.
The blacks who have occupied many farms did allow the white owners onto their property. Two weeks of violent occupations of the 1,000 farms has also put many black farm laborers out of work. And Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has been accused of using the confrontation to further his own political fortunes.
CBS News Correspondent Mark Phillips reports this is not simply an argument about who should own the land -- the whites who've developed it over generations or the majority blacks who claim they're entitled to it. This is also an argument over who is a Zimbabwian.
"My grandparents came to this country. I am an African. It doesn't matter if I am a white African--I'm still an African," said Jo Nicholson, a woman farmer.
The central issue in the violence occupation campaign -- who should pay compensation for a land reform program -- still rages.
Britain has said it is willing to resume funding to help redistribute white-owned lands to land-less blacks -- but only if Mugabe ends the occupations.
British Foreign Minister Robin Cook said Sunday that other southern African leaders had urged Mugabe to resolve the crisis peacefully.