Zimbabwean farmers freed on bail

THE first white farmers charged with defying Zimbabwean government eviction orders appeared briefly in court yesterday and were freed on bail, allowing them to return to their homes.

Hundreds of the 2,900 white farmers ordered to leave their land by midnight on August 8 have remained. Many have reportedly been harassed by ruling party militants, but the Government made no serious move against them until the court case yesterday.

Mac Crawford, an official with the Commercial Farmers Union and one of the five arrested, said the farmers were told to reappear in court on September 6 in the town of Gwanda, 80 miles south of Bulawayo.