HARARE (IPS)�Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and South Africa�s Thabo Mbeki have called on the world to support Zimbabwe�s land reform program saying non-resolution of the issue meant the country�s liberation war was not over.

"We should not lose sight that and until land reform is carried out in a way that will satisfy the majority of the people of Zimbabwe, it will be the unfinished work of liberation," said Mr. Obasanjo on behalf of the presidents.

Zimbabwe attained self-rule after a protracted war of liberation in 1980. The main issue that drove Blacks to take up arms was that whites were refusing to let go or share some of the land they had illegally taken.

Presidents Obasanjo and Mbeki met Zimbabwe�s Robert Mugabe in Harare Nov. 30 at a meeting called by the Nigerian head of state to discuss various sub-regional issues, the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and instability in parts of West Africa.

But of keen interest to reporters was Zimbabwe�s controversial land reform program which has seen the southern African country fall out with some donors over the manner it has proceeded with it.

Zimbabwe wants to resettle millions of its Black population on fertile land, most of which is owned by descendants of white settlers who colonized Zimbabwe more than a century ago.

In this quest the government has unleashed hundreds of veterans of Zimbabwe�s 1970s liberation war on white-owned farms. The veterans have, since February, been occupying the farms and their laborers have been attacked by the invaders while property has been destroyed.

Although, most Zimbabweans agree that resettling millions of landless Blacks is long overdue, there are sharp differences in opinion over how the manner should be handled.

Opposition parties, civic groups and international donors all agree that unleashing war veterans and beating up farmers is not the correct way. They call for infrastructural development before the Blacks take over the commercial farms, some of which are crucial to the mainstay of the economy.

"The issue of land reform in Zimbabwe is an issue that is not only current but it affects almost everybody�s life in this country and indeed it affects the lives of those beyond this country," President Obasanjo told journalists here.

"There is a law that stipulates what needs to be done and how it should be done," added Mr. Obasanjo.

Zimbabwe has enacted a law which calls on the British government to pay compensation for land confiscated from white farmers or the government does not pay a cent. Where farmers will be paid, the payments will be staggered over five years.

"We also realize the effect which the prolonged non-resolution of this particular issue is having on the economy of Zimbabwe and we call on the international community to give support to the resolution of this issue and come round to supporting it materially so that compensation, which is also part of the law, should be paid," said President Obasanjo.

But most donors say they will only release funds for the program if the program is transparent and aimed at poverty alleviation which, unfortunately, has not been the case where the government has acquired land. Some of the land has ended up in the possession of top ranking politicians with strong connections in the government.

More than $1 billion is needed to resettle millions of Black rural families who eke out a precarious living on barren communal lands. In contrast, most of prime land is owned by about 4,500, mostly white, commercial farmers.

In mid-November, Denmark cut its aid to Zimbabwe in protest over violations of the rule of law on the farms. The Danish government said it was "Very disappointed that the government of Harare has not followed the decision of Zimbabwe�s Supreme Court to end the illegal occupation of farms and land."

For two decades now, the onerous task of handling the emotive land reform program has been a difficult one. On the one hand are the land-starved restless peasants who have been waiting in vain for the promised land since 1980. On the other hand is the powerful white commercial farming sector who refuse to easily let go of "their" precious property.

But Mr. Mugabe needs the land to give to the millions of communal farmers, most of whom live in arid and semi-dry areas with rocky soils not fit for any agricultural production.

The mainly white commercial farmers occupying more than half of all the prime farming land say they will only let go after compensation is paid to them.

That is the source of the land war which has dragged into it countries such as Britain, Zimbabwe�s former colonizer. Black Zimbabweans, including Mr. Mugabe, argue that they should not pay for the land, which they point out was robbed from their ancestors when white colonial settlers conquered them more than 100 years ago.

What most angers Zimbabweans is that some of the land, most of it fertile, was given as gratuity to some whites who fought in the First and Second World Wars between 1914 and 1950 which they say had nothing to do with their country.

However, when independence did come in 1980 a new agreement signed at Lancaster in Britain barred the new socialist government from forcefully grabbing privately-owned farm land for the first 10 years. For that guarantee, Britain agreed that it would match a dollar for every dollar what the newly independent Zimbabwean government put as compensation to buy back the farms.

The Zimbabwean government now accuses Britain of defaulting on its promise. The British government has described Zimbabwe�s demands as "spurious."

The Nigerian president offered his services to act as a "midwife" to patch up differences between Zimbabwe and British government over the land issue.

Incensed by the British government�s lack of support for his land program, Mr. Mugabe has repeatedly denounced Tony Blair�s regime as "worse than the Tories" because the Labor government refuses its legal obligation to help in Zimbabwe�s land program because it has no ties to colonialism.