The president of Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert Mugabe, is engaged in a cynical political ploy. The country's 70,000 white farmers are the pawns in his bid to regain the political initiative in elections scheduled for next month. His tools are Zimbabwe's war veterans, many of whom are poor -- as a result of the economic mismanagement Mr. Mugabe has visited upon his country during his 20 years in power. By encouraging the veterans to seize the white farms, Mr. Mugabe hopes to bolster his sagging popularity; instead he threatens to visit further devastation on the economy and to isolate his country.

When Zimbabwe won its independence in 1980, the British government agreed to provide its former colony with $55 million in aid to assist land reform. About 67,000 people were resettled, but most went to marginal lands. In 1990, Britain froze the program, arguing that Zimbabwe had violated the terms of the deal by forcing farmers to sell their holdings. Worse, the purchased land was turned over to Mr. Mugabe's cronies; about 40,000 hectares of land went to a little more than 400 people, all of whom were connected to ZANU-PF, the president's ruling party. International donors were outraged, and cut off support for the program in retaliation.

Without assistance, the country spiraled downward. Mr. Mugabe is a committed socialist, and his economic policies have had predictable results. The farmers that have been resettled were not given title to the land, so they could not develop it. The cronies of Mr. Mugabe who received the farms in 1990 had no farming experience; most of the land is lying fallow. More than half the workforce is unemployed. Inflation is at 70 percent a year. Interest rates hover around 60 percent. Zimbabwe is wasting the little money it has supporting the war in Congo; reportedly, the government has intervened on behalf of embattled President Laurent Kabila in exchange for diamonds.