Mugabe dissolves cabinet

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has dissolved his cabinet as part of a major re-shuffle of his government.

He is expected to announce details of his new government on Monday.

The Information Ministry said in a statement that Mugabe, who won controversial presidential elections in March, would work on a new team this weekend.

It gave no reason for the move.

"His Excellency, the President, Comrade R.G. Mugabe, today, 23rd August, 2002, dissolved cabinet," Friday's statement said.

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Mugabe's policy of forcing white landowners to quit their property as part of his campaign to redistribute farms to landless blacks has been condemned by the international community.

Zimbabwe has ordered 2,900 of the country's 4,500 white commercial farmers to vacate their farms.

Some 200 farmers have been arrested and many charged for resisting eviction.

Earlier this week Zimbabwe accused the United States and Britain of mounting a "racist" campaign against Mugabe to maintain white economic dominance in southern Africa.

It followed the U.S. statement that it did not consider Mugabe as a legitimate leader.

"The legitimacy of our political system or our president is not dependent on America, Britain or any other country, but on Zimbabweans," a senior Zimbabwean foreign affairs official told Reuters.

"The bullying tactics that America and Britain are using against us are meant to frustrate our quest for social and economic justice, to stop our program to redistribute some of the very large tracts of land held by whites here to the indigenous black people."

Mugabe's election victory in March was condemned by the opposition and some Western nations, including the U.S. and Britain.

The United States and the European Union have imposed some travel and financial restrictions on Mugabe, dozens of Zimbabwean officials and supporters of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

Mugabe is due to travel to South Africa next week to attend the Earth Summit in Johannesburg.