Government backs war veterans

Harare - Zimbabwe war veterans, whom analysts say are becoming an unchecked political force, welcomed yesterday the government…

Harare - Zimbabwe war veterans, whom analysts say are becoming an unchecked political force, welcomed yesterday the government's renewed sympathy for their campaign to occupy white-owned land days after a police crackdown on the veterans' squatter camps.

Mr Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi, who heads the veteran campaign to redistribute land in Zimbabwe, met President Robert Mugabe yesterday to discuss a crackdown earlier this week in which police demolished settlements on seven of the veterans' squatter camps near Harare.

On Wednesday, after Mr Mugabe had returned from a conference in Maputo, the government issued a short statement back-pedalling over the police action, and saying it "regrets" the razing of squatters' houses.