Black militants armed with clubs and stones began evicting a white farmer from his land in northeastern Zimbabwe Wednesday, the first seizure since a government eviction order expired last week. Nearly two thirds of the 2,900 farmers targeted under President Robert Mugabe's land drive have defied the August 8 deadline to handover their farms to landless blacks.

About 60 mainly young militants loyal to Mugabe had surrounded the homestead on the Condwelani Farm near Bindura -- trapping Terry Hinde, his wife and son inside the farmhouse.

A Zimbabwean journalist working for the independent Daily News and another reporter for Britain's Daily Telegraph were also trapped in the house.

"We've just been on the phone with him (the Daily News reporter) and he says the militants have broken three windows and are threatening to get into the rest of the farmhouse," an editor from the paper told Reuters.

A Reuters journalist and freelance television crew were chased away when they arrived at the scene, some 90 km (55 miles) north of the capital Harare.
The militants hit two of the journalists several times, accusing them of being supporters of Mugabe's political opposition, and tried to overturn their vehicle as they drove away.

A spokeswoman for a farm pressure group, Justice for Agriculture (JAG), said earlier the Hinde family had called for a removal company after the militants began tossing furniture onto the lawn.

"The family are having to leave for safety reasons...," said JAG spokeswoman Jenni Williams.

Witnesses said police had been to the farm earlier on Wednesday, but left before the militants entered. Police were not available for comment.

COURT ACTIONS

The farm was first invaded more than two years ago and was targeted for compulsory acquisition under Mugabe's fast-track resettlement scheme.
Mugabe, who has governed Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, vowed this week to push ahead with his land campaign despite severe criticism at home and abroad.

The land reforms have caused upheavals at a time when millions of southern Africans in Zimbabwe and elsewhere face food shortages due to the disruption on the farms and drought.

In a televised speech Monday, Mugabe failed to say what would happen to those defying the order for the handover of 2,900 of the country's 4,500 white-run commercials farms.

But a senior government official said Tuesday white farmers should not take solace from the fact that Mugabe failed to say what action he would take.
"That is not an indication they will be allowed to stay...and those who don't get this message might eventually have to be forced to get out," the official told Reuters.

Williams said the Hinde family planned to make an urgent appeal to Zimbabwe's High Court to hold onto their farm.

The High Court ruled last week that the state could not confiscate land owned by one particular farmer because it had not told the bank, which had a mortgage on the property.

JAG has urged farmers to prepare fresh legal challenges against the acquisition of their lands, saying it would first take the cases to a Zimbabwean court and then internationally "if we do not get a fair judgement."

In an apparent reference to court challenges, Mugabe warned in his speech on Monday: "We brook no impediment and we will certainly suffer no avoidable delays."

Eleven white farmers have been killed since the land reform program began with violent invasions by so-called war veterans early in 2000, some in possible robberies fueled by a climate of lawlessness and others in direct clashes with militants.

Hundreds of black farm workers have been beaten and an unknown number have died at the hands of the veterans, many of them too young to have fought for the liberation of the former Rhodesia in the 1970s.

PHOTO CAPTION

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, right, is accompanied by the commander of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces Gen. Vitalis Zvinavashe, as he arrives to address thousands of people in Harare's Rufaro Stadium, Tuesday Aug. 13, 2002, to mark Defense Forces' Day. Mugabe said that Zimbabwe would begin working on a plan to withdraw its troops from Congo in light of the recent peace agreement between Congo and Rwanda. (AP Photo)
- Aug 13 5:35 PM ET