As Zimbabze's Attorney General describes the country as a "powder keg waiting to explode", T & A reporter Clive White looks at the plight of the nation through the eyes of an East Morton woman, whose 74 year-old father is a victim of the land invasion crisis.

FOR LYNNE McMillan, at home in East Morton, the tearing apart of Zimbabwe, played out on our television screens every night, is not just another sad episode in the strife torn history of Africa.

Thousands of miles away it may be, but for Lynne it could not be closer to her heart.

One of the farmers facing losing his home and the land he has spent a lifetime developing, is her 74-year-old father, Bert Hacking.

Like hundreds of other farmers in Zimbabwe, his fertile acres have been invaded by disenchanted blacks who claim to be taking back their inheritance.

About 100 supporters of President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party have swept on to the 5,000 acres where he grows tobacco.

And Lynne fears for her father's life.

When they last managed to speak on the telephone six days ago, Bert told her he was sleeping with his gun cabinet open.

She said: "My father said they would protect themselves and defend their rights.

"He was very tearful on the telephone, which is very unlike him. He is very much a man's man. A strong man.

"For him to break down like that was very distressing for me. That indicates the seriousness of the situation.

Her father, who lives on the farm in the Karoi region near Kariba, with his partner and her son and family, fought in the Rhodesian bush war in the late 1960s when the country was controlled by Ian Smith - the man who declared unilateral independence from the UK.

Bert flew a plane armed with a machine gun having trained as an RAF pilot in Harrogate in the second world war.

"I am worried all the time about him. About whether he is going to be a victim of violence and about where he will live in the future," said Lynne.

"The farm is still working - things are continuing as usual - but there is this underlying fear that soon someone will say this is our land, you are off."

She said it seemed inevitable that the land would be taken, judging by the new law that had been introduced.

Mrs McMillan, a clinical psychologist who works for the Centre for Crisis Psychology at Broughton near Skipton, said that the invaders had not shown any aggression towards her father, but she was concerned that the tension might escalate.

Some farmers had been given just minutes to leave, leaving behind their possessions and livestock.

"I can understand the people who historically have a claim on the land, but at the same time my father was allowed to buy the land. He is also a victim of history," she added.

"I feel helpless - all I can do is try to keep in touch and give him emotional support, but the telephone system is poor and I am worried that someone might overhear our conversation."

As a former serviceman, Mr Hacking, who was born in South Africa, was allowed to buy land in the then Rhodesia when he left the RAF.

He bought 10,500 acres and developed the land where the main crop is tobacco. Now he helps farm 5,000 acres of the land.

She said her father had a lot at stake having invested financially, physically and emotionally in the country.

Mrs McMillan, 46, who went to university in South Africa, moved to the UK two years ago with her Press photographer husband, Anthony, 47, because of the crime wave and the economic climate in the country. Her brother Brian, 48, was shot but survived a car hijacking.

She fears that Zimbabwe will now slump into the economic pit into which South Africa had plunged when she left.

"There is a negative growth rate and a serious Aids epidemic. I am sad for my family and for the country.

"It is becoming more run down - the roads are bad, the institutions and infrastructure are breaking down.

"It is such a shame because it is an exquisitely beautiful country - Africa as you imagine it.

"Generally the races have got on very well. The Zimbabwean people are friendly and peace-loving," she said.

There had to be some redress, but the way it was being brought about was economic suicide because the farms were the backbone of the country, she added.

She feared the land would revert to subsistence farming and poverty would increase.

Mrs McMillan said she understood the motives of the opposition to Mugabe, who has ruthlessly held on to power for the last 20 years, and many black Zimbabeans were saying enough is enough.

"Mugabe is very afraid but my concern is that even if the opposition party come through, it will not be the end," she added.

Country is 'a powder keg'

Zimbabwe is threatening to explode as President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party cling to power and more white-owned farms are invaded by squatters.

Mugabe has dissolved Parliament and elections are expected next month.

Meanwhile, farms continue to be occupied, mostly by veterans of the bush war against the Ian Smith regime, which ended 20 years ago.

They are demanding what they claim is their birth-right and their invasion is backed by Mugabe.

The country's Attorney General, Patrick Chinamasa, has warned that any attempt to evict the squatters could spark civil war. His justification is that whites have too big a share of the land

He described the nation as a "powder keg waiting to explode."

The Zimbabwean High Court was due to make a ruling on the squatting issue today.

Oppostion leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who leads the Movement for Democratic Change has widespread support from white Zimbabweans. He is due to visit London this week.

He believes the President is using the land issue to attract popular support after his defeat two months ago in a referendum on a new constitution. Mr Tsvangirai, said: "We gave them a yellow card during the referendum. Now it is time to give them a red card during the elections."

The 150-member assembly is dominated by the Zanu-PF and last week approved a bill empowering the government to seize hundreds of white-owned farms without paying compensation.

European Union ministers have backed a British call for electoral observers to be sent to the country and they are considering suspending subsidies if the harassment continues.

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Britain was still willing to fund the land reform programme provided the genuinely rural poor benefited.

But the country continues to sink into the economic mire.

Much of the tobacco crop has been harvested, but it has not been treated and will probably not be ready in time for the auctions that bring in much of the country's foreign currency.

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