ZIMBABWEANS have unreserved right to claim back their land which they fought for against the white regime during the liberation struggle, an American black empowerment activist, Mr Elombe Brath, said in Harare yesterday.

Mr Brath, the chairman of Patrice Lumumba Coalition, who is leading a 15-member Black- American team currently in the country to show their solidarity with the Government on the land issue, said if the land was not given to its rightful owners, the blacks, then the revolution would not be complete.

He said because of the growing awareness of the reparations, his organisation was demanding that the British government pays for the damages inflicted on the Zimbabwean people after their land was stolen from them.

"The fundamental way of doing that is to simply return the land to its rightful owners," said Mr Brath.

His team, which comprises US journalists, lawyers, educators and political activists, arrived in the country yesterday morning to show their solidarity with the Government on the land issue.

"We came here to share the struggles, experiences of African renaissance and develop a comparative analysis about how imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism has thwarted our people to total freedom and restore land to the masses from whom it was stolen hundreds of years ago," said Mr Brath.

The team is expected to go back to America and brief their respective constituencies on the tour and also debunk the misinformation campaign against Zimbabwe by the international media supported by the local private Press.

Commenting on this year's March presidential election, Mr Brath said President Mugabe's re-election was far more justified than Mr George Bush's election in the US two years ago.

He said Mr Bush's election was made at the expense of taking away votes of the black people in that country.

"We think the US is still trying to contest the Zimbabwe election which was fair and free," he said.

Mr Brath also paid tribute to President Mugabe for intervening in the Democratic Republic of Congo conflict with the aim of restoring peace.

He said if Cde Mugabe had not aided the late DRC President Cde Laurent Kabila, Americans could now be controlling that country and brutally exploiting its people and their resources.