The president of Botswana offered Zimbabwe's embattled President Robert Mugabe rare diplomatic solidarity on Monday by avoiding political differences and praising a leader largely shunned by the West over his policies, Reuters reported. Festus Mogae, who has at times broken ranks with African leaders by publicly criticising Mugabe over Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis, endorsed Mugabe's controversial seizures of white-owned farms for blacks as politically "necessary" and said the country's key agriculture sector would soon rebound. Opening Harare's annual agricultural show, Mogae said Zimbabwe's agriculture -- whose output has fallen by over 60 percent in the last six years -- had great potential but the government must honour its pledge to ensure productive land use. "Agriculture in Zimbabwe has unfortunately been disrupted by the necessary redistributive adjustments that have had to be made in favour of the majority of citizens," he said, adding that droughts and Western sanctions against Harare had also hurt the Zimbabwe economy. Mogae said he had recently told a meeting of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation that Zimbabwe would soon become one of the top farming nations in the world. "My prediction must be taken seriously," he said. Independent experts predict Zimbabwe's farm sector will take many years to recover in the absence of crucial donor support, including training of new farmers. Mogae called for strong economic relations with Zimbabwe, Botswana's second largest trading partner in Africa, saying the two neighbours must explore ways of boosting trade and joint investments and development in southern Africa in general. At a dinner he hosted for Mogae on Sunday, Mugabe -- who values African solidarity in the face of Western isolation over his policies -- said Harare would work hard to strengthen relations built on old political ties. Mugabe praised Botswana for helping during Zimbabwe's national liberation war in the 1970s, adding that the potential for trade remained great even though volumes have fallen in the last two years. "The enhancement of trade flows between our two countries is imperative," Mugabe said. Critics say Mugabe's policies, including his redistribution of white-owned farms to inexperienced black farmers, have ruined one of Africa's most promising economies. Zimbabwe's economy is in its eighth year of recession, and is currently struggling with the world's highest inflation rate of nearly 1,000 percent. Mogae, Mugabe and Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa were due to have talks in Harare on plans to jointly construct a bridge link on their common border.
