Evicted White Zimbabwean Farmers Get $3.5 Billion Settlement Bid




Zimbabwean commercial farmer Tommy Bayley rides an old bicycle ahead of war veterans and villagers, who invaded his farm at Danbury Park outside the capital Harare, in this file picture taken April 8, 2000. REUTERS/Howard Burditt/Files
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HARARE (Bloomberg) –White commercial farmers, who were violently evicted from their land in a series of invasions that began two decades ago, said they have been offered $3.5 billion to settle their dispute with the government.

The offer is for improvements and assets on the more than 4,000 farms that were seized and doesn’t pertain to the land itself, said Ben Gilpin, director of the Commercial Farmers Union. An agreement is yet to be reached.

The offer is an attempt to draw to a close a dispute that tipped Zimbabwe’s economy into freefall by slashing export income and incurring sanctions from countries and political blocs including the U.S. and European Union. Zimbabwe’s rulers maintain that the land was taken forcibly during colonial times and needed to be returned to Black Zimbabweans.

The Telegraph reported the potential deal earlier.