A group of Dutch farmers who were forced off
their land in Zimbabwe has launched a campaign to force Harare to pay
them compensation.
The group lost their land between 2000 and 2002 when supporters of
President Robert Mugabe occupied white-owned farms in an often violent
land redistribution campaign. They did not receive any compensation
which the group claimed was a violation of the Investment Protection
Agreement (IBO) which the Netherlands had made with Zimbabwe.
Landmark court case
They took their case to the International Centre for the Settlement
of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a Washington-based court which operates
under the aegis of the World Bank. The ICSID ruled in their favour in
2009 and ordered Zimbabwe to pay them 8.8 million euros compensation, to
be increased by 10 percent for each year since the land grab. The group
are now entitled to a sum of more 23 million euros.
Broken promise
The Netherlands has been pressuring Zimbabwe over the past two years
to fulfil its international obligations. The Ministry of Economic
Affairs appointed a special envoy in 2010 who has since travelled
regularly to Zimbabwe to negotiate with government officials. Earlier
this year, Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Tendai Biti promised to put
forward a payment proposal. So far he has not honoured this promise
despite being asked to do so in a letter from the Dutch Foreign Minister
in August.
"We wanted to take action earlier, but decided to wait for Biti's
proposal," the group's chairman Lion Benjamins told Dutch daily de
Volkskrant. "But now we're sick of waiting, so have decided to take
steps to show Zimbabwe we're serious."
Sanctions
The group has launched the website Justice Zimbabwe and is lobbying
European parliamentarians to ensure that the EU refuse to lift its
sanctions on Zimbabwe until the compensation is paid. They also hope to
persuade the Dutch government to use its right of veto if Zimbabwe asks
the Paris Club for debt relief.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs says it supports the farmers but is "not in a position to take over the payment".
The group is also active in the UK, lobbying the government to
release frozen Mugabe regime assets in order to pay the compensation.
Source:http://allafrica.com/stories/201210021048.html
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