Dar es Salaam, April 10 -- ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwes government has announced an initial pay-out of US$3m (£2.3m) to white farmers whose farms were seized under a controversial government programme more than two decades ago.

It is the first payment to be made under the 2020 compensation agreement signed between the state and the local white farmers in which Zimbabwe committed to pay $3.5bn (£2.6bn) for seized farmland.

Thousands of white farmers were forced from their land, often violently, between 2000 and 2001.

The seizures were meant to redress colonial-era land grabs but contributed to the countrys economic decline and ruined relations with the West.

The payment announced on Wednesday will cover the first 378 farms, out o...