Blair and Cook try to apply peer pressure on Mugabe

Britain's Role

The British Government is anxiously working behind the scenes to apply pressure on President Robert Mugabe through other African leaders to try to defuse the simmering land dispute with Zimbabwe.

Tony Blair is to meet the South African President, Thabo Mbeki, early next month in London to increase the diplomatic pressure on Mr Mugabe to restore the rule of law in Zimbabwe and hold early elections. The date of the bilateral meeting with the South African President, who has warm relations with Mr Blair, has yet to be confirmed but it will be one of the key diplomatic meetings in the coming days.

Robin Cook yesterday wrote to President Mbeki and the two other African leaders, Presidents Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and Sam Nujoma of Namibia, who will meet President Mugabe today at Victoria Falls. The Foreign Secretary reminded them that Britain remained committed to land reform provided conditions were met.

The next step is for Mr Cook to meet a delegation from the Zimbabwe government in London next Thursday to reinforce the calls for early elections, currently scheduled for May, and an end to the violence against white farmers that has left two people dead. The Commonwealth ministerial action group will meet in London on 2-3 May to discuss further action. The Prime Minister has told President Clinton that Britain is seeking to calm the storm over Zimbabwe, and throwing the country out of the Commonwealth would play into President Mugabe's hands.

The Prime Minister briefed the US President in a 30-minute telephone call on Wednesday night on the British diplomatic strategy. The White House has deplored the "lawlessness" in Zimbabwe but President Clinton is not expected by diplomatic sources in London to order a higher level of diplomatic pressure from the US. "That would give Mugabe what he wants. He would play that as two big countries ganging up on him," said a Whitehall source.

Downing Street is determined to resist the pressure at home by the Tories and the media for "empty gestures" including the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth. Mr Blair's advisers believe that would strengthen President Mugabe's attempts to "play the martyr" and present the action as a confrontation with colonial Britain.

Diplomatic sources said the strategy demanded a "more patient approach" to bring an alliance of international countries to put pressure on President Mugabe. "If the African states and the Commonwealth exert pressure, it cannot be portrayed as a neo-colonial vendetta by Britain. That is something that people there are concerned about," said one insider. "That is why the [Commonwealth] ministerial action group is important. They will be expected to express the view that what is going on at the moment is unsustainable and deeply damaging to Zimbabwe."

Clare Short, the Secretary of State for International Development, on Wednesday suspended the payment of £8mtowards a £24m order for 1,500 Land Rovers for the Zimbabwe police, who have been accused of standing by while white farmers have been murdered by mobs. But there will be no move to withdraw other aid, which is going to relieve poverty in Zimbabwe.

The Foreign Office has been warned by the farmers' leaders that taking more direct action against Zimbabwe would rebound on them, and strengthen support for President Mugabe. All Zimbabwean white farmers know that, unless they are killed, they will ultimately be allowed to stay because the country needs their efficient practices.

The Zimbabwean government has various programmes in place to enable black farmers to escape the trap of subsistence farming, in which returns are poor because the farmers cannot afford basic fertilisers or automised equipment. But these programmes are riddled with corruption, favouritism and grinding bureaucracy.

Many in Zimbabwe believe President Mugabe's objective is to install a state of emergency and never to hold the parliamentary elections which had initially been expected in April. Already, parliament is dissolved and he is ruling alone.