Zimbabwe farmers out on bail

CHINHOYI, Zimbabwe -- A group of white farmers have been reunited with their families after spending two weeks in jail over a land-grab dispute.

The farmers hugged their families at the meeting in Banket, near Chinhoyi, on Wednesday before leaving the area for four weeks as part of their bail conditions.

"It went very well and peacefully," Edna Mortimer of the Commercial Farmers' Union told The Associated Press.

"It's good to see the families back together again. It's a good day."

About 100 people, believed to be supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party, had shouted slogans and abuse at the farmers as they left prison on bail.

The farmers have been held since August 6 on charges of inciting violence following an incident at a white-owned farm in Chinhoyi, in the north of the country.

The are alleged to have assaulted supporters of President Robert Mugabe, who had taken-over the farm as part of the leader's land redistribution programme.

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The farmers argue that they went to the assistance of a colleague under siege by the squatters and were attacked first.

Mobs of militants retaliated by burning and looting properties in the area in the week that followed the arrests.

The farmers were released on strict bail conditions on Monday which include reporting to police once a week and to post 100,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($1,820) in bail and to guarantee the same amount in assets.

They also had to hand-in their passports, and were refused permission to return to their homes for fear of the violence being renewed.

The High Court said only one farmer, 72-year-old Gert Pretorius, who collapsed in the magistrate court at the first hearing, could stay in the Chinhoyi area where he is in hospital with a heart problem.

Another CFU spokesman told Reuters: "Things are still a bit tense. None of them wants to talk to the press. They are still very scared and their court case is coming up."

Pro-government militants have illegally occupied more than 1,700 white-owned farms in Zimbabwe since last year, encouraged by a government campaign to seize 4,600 white farms and redistribute the land to blacks.

The targeted farms make up about 95 percent of Zimbabwe's white-owned farmland.

Up to 4,000 white farmers own about one-third of Zimbabwe's farmland, while eight million blacks live on the rest.

A tense stand-off continues at a farm in southern Zimbabwe on Wednesday after at least 60 armed militants moved onto a white-owned farm the previous day. Police are trying to defuse the situation.