HL Deb 07 October 2002 vol 639 c7WA
Lord Pearson of Rannoch

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have any plans to compensate white farmers in Zimbabwe for the loss of their land; if so, which channels they propose to use; and whether these channels are satisfactory. [HL5563]

Baroness Amos

Her Majesty's Government have no such plans. It remains the responsibility of the Zimbabwe Government to compensate for the land they are acquiring and leasing to others through their current resettlement and indigenisation programmes. The UK has repeatedly offered to provide development funds to support fair and well managed land reform, including land purchase, which contributes to poverty reduction. Sadly this is clearly not the case at present and an ill conceived programme is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.