Farmers again asked for support, citing the hot weather and drought that brought emus invading farms in the thousands.

Some people even threatened to invade white farms.

Government-backed militants have swept across the country, invading and occupying white-owned farms.

In the fierce battle for votes, he has encouraged poor blacks to invade white-owned farms and has condoned attacks on his rivals.

They were ordering people to invade white farms, he said.

President Mugabe's paramilitary troops have brutalized and killed opponents; assaulted lawyers, human rights activists and democratic reformers; and invaded factories and universities as well as farms.

It begins with the thugs who invade white farms, and who claim to be "war vets."

Hordes of squatters regularly invade private farms in hopes of eking out a living.

When the opposition Movement for Democratic Change first emerged as a force in 2000, officials began encouraging poor blacks to invade white-owned farms and to attack political rivals.

They began by invading white-owned farms, and they still remain on many - camping on the land, obstructing farm operations, demanding food by threat.