Zimbabwe's White Farmers Seek Trump's Help in Compensation Battle

Zimbabwe's white farmers, who lost their land during the country's controversial land redistribution program, are turning to an unlikely source for help in their battle for compensation: President Donald Trump.

The farmers have engaged the services of Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with close ties to the US president, in a bid to argue their case and potentially secure intervention from the Trump administration. The move comes as the Zimbabwean government has agreed to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to the dispossessed farmers, a deal that has been met with skepticism by many of those affected.

The white farmers, who once dominated Zimbabwe's agricultural sector, were forced off their land during the chaotic land reform program initiated by former president Robert Mugabe in the early 2000s. The program was widely criticized as a politically-motivated effort to redistribute wealth and power away from the country's white minority.

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