31^st August, 2001.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission is to visit Zimbabwe for discussions on the country, which has been without fund aid since 1999, a senior IMF official said this week.

Gerry Johnson, the IMF's senior representative in Zimbabwe, said the visit had been agreed with the Zimbabwe authorities. Its purpose would be a standard review of the economy.

"The focus of the discussions is primarily on macroeconomic issues, and the aim is to permit the staff to present the macroeconomic situation of the country in a balanced and comprehensive fashion," Johnson said.

The IMF suspended loans to Zimbabwe in October 1999 after government efforts to liberalise the economy went off track, prompting most other lenders to pull out and leaving the country with little credit and practically no foreign currency.

In May, the fund said that Zimbabwe had stopped payment on its loans. The government was 690m in arrears on its entire foreign debt by the end of July 2001, according to the finance ministry. Zimbabwe's total foreign debt is estimated at $4bn.

Starved of IMF support, the Zimbabwean economy has in the past two years been in free fall, with foreign exchange critically short, inflation at 70% and unemployment hovering at 50%.

The foreign currency shortage has left the government frequently unable to maintain an adequate supply of electricity and fuel, with essential imports such as medicines also in short supply.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has criticised the fund as a tool for western countries to deprive developing nations of support on political grounds, such as a country's human rights record.

Mugabe has become increasingly isolated in southern Africa and overseas as a result of his crackdown on perceived opponents, including the opposition, the media and the judiciary.

Meanwhile, in Lagos, it was announced yesterday that British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw would attend talks in Abuja next week aimed at reducing tension between Harare and London over Zimbabwe's land reform.

Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge and Lands and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made have been tentatively named to lead the Zimbabwe delegation to the talks on Thursday. SA has said it would not send a representative.

Mugabe said earlier this month he was confident the Nigerian government would be able to patch up relations between Britain and Zimbabwe.

But the diplomatic source said it may be unrealistic to expect any breakthrough as a result of the meeting.

"What we're hoping to do is identify the pieces of the puzzle and put the pieces in the right corners," said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Right now it is almost as if we were looking at two different puzzles. This is a chance to put some pegs down that will eventually raise the tent," the diplomat said.

Zimbabwe, the former British colony of Rhodesia, has been immersed in an economic and political crisis since February last year, when self-styled war veterans, encouraged by the government, seized hundreds of whiteowned farms.

Zimbabwe's militants said this week they were ready to intensify the seizure of whiteowned land, taking over many of the country's largest farms at a faster rate than before.

Mugabe has said Britain must pay compensation to white farmers whose land was taken over for distribution to landless blacks.

London has said that it would not finance land reform amid violence and a disregard for the rule of law.

Straw will be accompanied by the leaders of four other delegations who will come to Abuja directly after attending next week's Commonwealth meeting in London, where contentious Commonwealth issues will be discussed. Reuters, Sapa-AFP.