Mugabe in 'fair' polls pledge

Mugabe insists his land reform plans will go ahead

BLANTYRE, Malawi -- Elections in Zimbabwe will be "free and fair," President Robert Mugabe has pledged amid growing international concern over the March polls.

But Mugabe's government has vowed to push on with its controversial land reform programme, saying it is "irreversible."

On Monday, the Zimbabwe president attended a one-day summit of southern African leaders in Malawi and, in a declaration issued at the end of the meeting, said he would agree to allow international monitors and journalists to observe the elections.

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The statement from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) also said Mugabe would launch impartial investigations of recent political violence in Zimbabwe and work with the opposition to restore peace.

In Zimbabwe, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said Monday one of its offices was torched over the weekend and several of its supporters were beaten up by ruling party militants.

On Saturday, police fired tear gas to disperse an opposition rally.

Malawian President Bakili Muluzi, who currently chairs SADC, said Zimbabwe should now be given a chance to act on its pledges.

"President Mugabe has made a commitment to us as SADC -- let's wait and see," he said.

The summit declaration did not specify which countries would be able to send election observers, but Mugabe has previously stated that only observers from "friendly" countries would be allowed in.

Mugabe left the 14-nation summit after seven hours saying: "All is well that ends well. We are very happy that all the issues were well discussed."

On the land reform issue, Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge said: "Any attempt that Zimbabwe should reverse its land policy is like whistling in a grave yard (a waste of time)," he said.

"It is irreversible because land is what we fought for and it is what is just and what is right."

Mugabe and his administration want to redistribute Zimbabwe's most fertile land -- most of it owned by white commercial farmers -- to the landless black population.

While there is international controversy over the ambition Mugabe has given tacit support to -- or at least turned a blind eye to -- landless blacks, who describe themselves as veterans of the war of independence, occupying white farms.

SADC comprises South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia.