Prominent Zimbabwe farmer shot dead in robbery

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Police in Zimbabwe say a prominent white farmer was shot dead in a robbery at his home as a farmers' organization alleges violence against the few remaining white-owned farms has intensified in the past month.

Police official Andrew Phiri said 67-year-old Kobus Joubert died in the robbery Monday. Two pistols, money and household goods were stolen from his farm west of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.

The Commercial Farmers Union, representing about 300 whites still on their land after a decade-long violent land seizure program that ousted some 4,000 white farmers, said the killing showed "the flagrant disregard for the rule of law" in farming areas ahead of proposed elections.

President Robert Mugabe last month vowed to call elections in the middle of next year.

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