Zimbabwe ambassador accuses white refugee farmers of stirring opposition
- White farmers who fled Zimbabwe for Canada years ago have influenced Canadian policy against the Mugabe government, says Zimbabwe's ambassador in Ottawa.
"Of course they are sympathetic to the opposition," Florence Zano Chideya said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "We have a lot of whites that come here because of the land dispute."
In 2000, supporters of President Robert Mugabe began confiscating white-owned land for redistribution to black farmers, often without compensation. Many displaced farmers fled to places all over the world, including Canada.
Chideya says those white farmers have formed a lobby with the purpose of influencing Canadian opinion on Zimbabwe.
"They go to Parliament to lobby for government to look at things in a different way."
The ambassador's comments come amid turmoil in the African country over recent election disputes. Mugabe has lost his majority in parliament but the presidential results have yet to be released.
Last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier called on the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission to release accurate results of the presidential election without further delay.
"Our relations with the (Canadian) government are a bit frosty here and there," Chideya acknowledged.
"From time to time you will read, Zimbabweans are this and Zimbabweans are that here in Canada because the government went and picked them out (white farmers) and put them here, now you have a sizable community."
Chideya did not provide information on the numbers of white expatriates living in Canada.
David Wilding-Davies, a former coffee farmer who fled Zimbabwe in 2005, agrees that expatriates have been able to influence public opinion in Canada.
"I would say we probably have in some ways played a part because we have first-hand experience of what goes on, so yeah, we've probably had some impact," he said in an interview from Thornbury, Ont.
At the same time, Wilding-Davies says, the actions of the Mugabe government have themselves helped sour Canadian opinion.
"I think there are very few people that have illusions about Mugabe anymore," he said."Everyone sees him for who he is, which is just a ruthless despot."
Originally from Langley, B.C., Wilding-Davies fled back to Canada after beng attacked.
He vividly remembers the day Zimbabwe police carrying guns and machetes ransacked his farm, lit fires on his compound and tried to take his children away.
Wilding-Davies returns to Zimbabwe occasionally to check on his leased coffee farm. He said he keeps a low profile because "if they see a white person on the farm too much, they are going to suspect the white person is going to try to influence them (local farmers) to support the opposition party."
He said he is hopeful, however, that the election results will allow him to return to Zimbabwe soon, where he plans to open a farm with his wife and children.
"We would love to do that, we enjoy farming, we certainly love Zimbabwe and we had a really good labour force."
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