GMO FOODS. The US may push Africa to accept gene-altered (GMO) food now that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled the EU broke rules by barring GMO foods and seeds, but Africans vowed to resist yesterday. ?We do not want GM (genetically modified) foods and our hope is that all of us can continue to produce non-GM foods?, said Zambian Agriculture Minister, Mundia Sikatana. The decision by the WTO does nothing to change our stand.?

The WTO ruled on Tuesday that the European Union (EU) and six member states had broken trade rules by barring entry to genetically modified crops and foods. A US trade official confirmed findings of the preliminary ruling, contained in a confidential report sent only to the parties. The closely watched verdict addressed a complaint brought against the EU by leading GMO producers the United States, Argentina and Canada.

The EU?s opponents asserted that the moratorium, which Brussels argued was never official, hurt their exports and was not based on science. Manufacturers of the biotech seeds, designed to increase yields and resist pests better than normal seeds, maintain their safety for human consumption. European consumers, fearing the effects of ?Frankenstein foods? have resisted them. Even African countries facing food shortages, such as Zambia, have refused to accept gene-altered food donations. Regional heavyweight South Africa is one of the few countries on the continent to embrace the controversial technology.

LAND REFORM. South Africa?s decision to speed the pace of land reform with limited expropriations from white hands is an attempt to seize the initiative from radicals while maintaining stability, analysts said yesterday.

President Thabo Mbeki said last Friday that the government would review its ?willing-buyer, willing-seller? approach to land restitution, largely dictated by market forces. His land claims commissioner has since signalled the government will move from next month to expropriate from white owners where talks have dragged on for too long.

Commentators say the centrist Mbeki needs to outflank radicals to douse the flames of resentment in rural areas where the unequal distribution of land ownership along racial lines remains a political powder keg a decade after apartheid ended.

He also needs to address an issue that has an influence on investor perceptions of political risk in Africa?s largest economy.

The government estimates that 96 % of commercially viable farmland remains in the hands of whites, who comprise just about 10 % percent of the population of 45 million.