60% of White Farmers Defy Eviction Order

As Zimbabwe's white farmers waited for President Robert Mugabe's next step in a 2-year-old effort to drive them from their land, a new support group estimated that 60% were defying eviction orders.

About 2,900 of the country's 4,500 white commercial farmers were supposed to have surrendered their farms without compensation to landless blacks by Thursday or face jail.

Jenni Williams of the Justice for Agriculture group said Saturday that 40% of targeted farmers, or about 1,160, had left their land.

There have been no reports of action by authorities, violence or evictions since the deadline passed.