HARARE, Zimbabwe — Militant supporters of President Robert Mugabe targeted whites Monday, forcing about a dozen farmers off their land as Zimbabwe’s longtime ruler fanned racial tensions amid fears he will turn to violence to hold on to power.
Mugabe’s opponents pressed a lawsuit seeking to compel the publication of results of the March 29 presidential election that they say Morgan Tsvangirai won.
The opposition leader urged the international community to persuade Mugabe to step down.
“Major powers here, such as South Africa, the U.S. and Britain, must act to remove the white-knuckle grip of Mugabe’s suicidal reign and oblige him and his minions to retire,” Tsvangirai wrote in Monday’s edition of Britain’s Guardian newspaper.
“How can global leaders espouse the values of democracy, yet when they are being challenged fail to open their mouths?” he asked.
A Zimbabwe court postponed until today an expected ruling on an opposition petition demanding the release of the presidential election results. Mugabe’s ruling party has called for a recount and a further delay in the release of results.
After an increasingly authoritarian rule during 28 years in power, Mugabe has virtually conceded he did not win, and is already campaigning for an expected runoff against Tsvangirai on a platform of intimidation of his foes and exploitation of racial tensions.
During a talk at a funeral Sunday, the president urged Zimbabweans to defend land seized from white farmers in recent years, the state-controlled Herald newspaper said.
“This is our soil and the soil must never go back to the whites,” Mugabe said, referring to whites by the pejorative Shona term “mabhunu,” the Herald reported.
He spoke as militants began invading more white farms and demanding the owners leave.
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