About 200 Zimbabwean commercial farmers have approached the Mozambican government for resettlement in Manica, Macossa, Barue, Gorongosa and Sussundenga in central Mozambique, Zimbabwe's independent 'Daily News' reported on Thursday.

Manica province governor Scores Nhaca said he was negotiating with hundreds of white farmers who were keen to relocate for political or economic reasons. A meeting of community, religious and traditional leaders held in Chimoio recently welcomed the plan to give fertile pieces of land to Zimbabwean farmers, saying this would enhance the socio-economic development of Manica province. Nhaca said his government had set aside about 400,000 hectares in the Barue and Macossa districts for the Zimbabweans, who would be given about 450 hectares each for a period of 50 years.

A similar project developed with South African farmers in the northern Mozambiquan province of Niassa is in crisis due to lack of funds. "We have the land, but all that remains is to work out the mechanisms of parcelling out the land, Nhaca told the newspaper, stressing that his government would not "steal" any land from its people.