World News 17-08-2001 Zimbabwean Journalists Re-arrested As Farm Wars Hot Up who: Four Zimbabwean journalists what: Hit with new charges after being released from custody where: Harare, Zimbabwe when: Yesterday snippet: "Four journalists from Zimbabwe`s only independent daily newspaper faced new charges of subversion Thursday," reports the Guardian, "a day after they were arrested on similar charges then released." The Independent`s Basildon Peta continues: "An attempt to charge the Daily News editor, Geoff Nyarota, and three of his journalists, with publishing false news was rejected by a judge on Wednesday, and the four were released." "The report", explains The Guardian, "was about a week of violence in the Chinhoyi corn and tobacco district, 70 miles northwest of Harare, in which at least 30 homesteads were looted and white families evacuated from about 100 farms." Meanwhile, 21 white farmers will learn today whether the have been granted bail after spending the last ten days in jail charged with, according to the Independent report, "assaulting invaders on one of the white-owned farms." The Zimbabwe government, internationally criticised for encouraging the looting and destruction of white farmers` property across the country, has accused the white farmers of inciting the violence. The Independent explains: "Its daily publication, The Herald, yesterday said the British Government and white commercial farmers had instigated the looting after the farmers` arrest..to tarnish Zimbabwe`s image abroad and to justify external intervention in this southern African country`s internal affairs. A spokesman at the British High Commission, Richard Lindsay, said the claims were `baseless and nonsensical`." [... more]

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