ROSEMARY CHURCH, WORLD NEWS: Government ministers from Zimbabwe are in London for meetings with Britain's foreign secretary Robin Cook. The talks are aimed at defusing tensions between Britain and its former colony and trying to halt the violent takeover of white-owned farms. For more, we're joined now by CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault in Zimbabwe's capital. Charlayne?</s>CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary, there is a lot riding on this meeting in Great Britain. Of course, Zimbabwe, joined by South Africa and other regional leaders, have insisted that Britain pay the cost of this land distribution as a part of its moral responsibility, its colonial history here in this country. Meanwhile, there has been, at least for now, a cessation of the land takeovers. The farmers union and the war veterans have been meeting and talking, and they have said over the last couple of days that this crisis is about to end. But that remains to be seen. There have been a total of 14 people murdered in the last two months, in part because of the occupations of the farms. White farmers have been murdered, their laborers. But there's also a political crisis brewing here. There is a new opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, which is challenging the ruling party of President Mugabe. And yesterday, their leader promised to retaliate if these political murders continue. Most of them have been of either the Movement for Democratic Change members or their supporters, and he has said he is going to take this violence to the doorstep of the ministers and members of parliament whom he has accused of fomenting the violence. Of course, the ruling party has denied this.</s>CHURCH: Charlayne Hunter-Gault, reporting there from Harare, Zimbabwe. END TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Zimbabwean Ministers Meet With British Foreign Secretary