JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Violence that has been raging for a week throughout a rich agricultural district of northwestern Zimbabwe eased Wednesday as regional leaders offered to intervene and police moved against militants who had ransacked dozens of white-owned properties.
But tension remained high in white farming communities, and about 100 families who had been evacuated from their homes last weekend were still unable to return.
Analysts predicted that the relative calm--which came after what is widely considered the worst violence in the 18 months since pro-government militants began occupying white-owned farms--will be temporary. They warned that the recent escalation of mayhem could push Zimbabwe into anarchy.
"Zimbabwe is on the brink of the abyss," said Laurie Nathan, executive director at the Cape Town-based Center for Conflict Resolution, a respected think tank in neighboring South Africa. "It is on the trajectory of civil war. It is not so much the incidents of violence per se, but the government's tolerance of violence, its apparent encouragement of violence, its undermining of the judiciary.
"In other words," he added, "government is acting outside the rule of law. That's the danger."
Zimbabwean police said Wednesday that 100 more looting suspects had been arrested in the area surrounding Chinhoyi, about 65 miles northwest of Harare, the capital, bringing to 160 the total number of people detained in recent days.
White farmers had accused the police of aiding or turning a blind eye to the plunder that began last week. But on Wednesday, Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers' Union confirmed that authorities had moved in and no further incidents had been reported.
"There is a lot of police presence," Jenni Williams, a CFU spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview from Harare. "They are moving from farm to farm trying to recover stolen property."
Since February 2000, ruling party militants led by veterans of the independence war that ended white rule in 1980 have illegally occupied more than 1,700 white-owned farms. The government has ignored six court rulings to remove the squatters, and nine farmers have been killed since the invasions began.
The latest wave of violence erupted following the arrest Aug. 6 of 21 white farmers on allegations of violence and assault against squatters on their land. Their third application for bail was due to be heard in the high court today.
