Zimbabwe farmers say attacks go on

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Government supporters have resumed their attacks on white-owned farms despite international intervention, a farmers' union has said.

A spokeswoman for the Commercial Farmers Union, said on Friday that property was destroyed and planting disrupted.

Commonwealth foreign ministers had recently condemned such strikes, drawing up a policy of land reform for President Robert Mugabe's regime in return for financial aid.

A response on the attacks was not immediately available from the police or the government.

The latest attacks allegedly took place on Thursday evening in Marondera district, 74 kilometres (45 miles) southeast of Harare, the CFU spokeswoman said.

The CFU represents 4,500 mainly white farmers.

"Twenty-five farm workers, including a three-year-old child and eight-month-pregnant woman, were assaulted on Munemo and Mushangwe farms in Ruzawi River Valley," she added.

Ten of the injured were treated in hospital the spokeswoman said.

Farmers say Mugabe has failed to honour his September endorsement of a Nigerian-brokered deal under which his government agreed to end the farm invasions in return for pledges of financial help from former colonial power Britain.

The militants, who say they are supporting Mugabe's bid to redistribute white-owned land to Zimbabwe's black majority, had also rampaged a nearby farm village, smashing doors, breaking windows, burning down a house and destroying a vegetable garden.

On Tuesday, 30 destroyed over Z$300,000 ($5,405) of property on a farm in the same region as the owners cowered in their bedroom, she said.

"Estimates now stand at over Z$4 million worth of damage on just a handful of farms in this district," she added.

Aid agencies have warned of severe food shortages in rural areas, citing a combination of drought and the farm invasions.

On Thursday, the U.N. World Food Programme said it was planning a massive relief food operation for more than half a million Zimbabweans faced with starvation.

Mugabe denies responsibility for Zimbabwe's worst economic crisis since he assumed power in 1980, blaming turmoil on sabotage by his opponents in retaliation for the land programme.

Self-styled liberation war veterans have occupied thousands of white-owned farms since February 2000.

An opinion poll released on Thursday showed Mugabe's popular support below that of his main rival.

The poll found that 52.9 percent of Zimbabweans backed Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, while 47.1 percent supported Mugabe.

The MDC, which won 57 of 120 seats in last year's parliamentary vote, has gained support countrywide, including in traditional rural power bases of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party.

Elections are due by April.