SA backs down over Mugabe

South Africa is reported to have halted attempts to get Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe invited to December's Commonwealth summit in Nigeria.

Mr Mugabe has lost Nigeria's and South African support

A senior South African official was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that President Thabo Mbeki will not make a stand over the issue of Zimbabwe's participation.

This follows a telephone conversation between President Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart, according to South African television.

President Olusegun Obasanjo's government had earlier indicated that it would not be inviting Mr Mugabe to the Abuja meeting.

"We have always said that it is for Nigeria to issue the invitations and that we will respect that," said President Mbeki's spokesman, Bheki Khumalo.

One week ago, Mr Mbeki told his parliament that Zimbabwe was entitled to attend the summit because technically it was no longer suspended from the Commonwealth.

A war of words also developed with Australia, which had announced that Mr Mugabe was not being invited.

Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis could well dominate the summit in Abuja.

Early this year both Mr Mbeki and Mr Obasanjo said they were against the extension of the one-year suspension which ended in March.

But the Commonwealth secretariat and states like the United Kingdom and Australia have insisted the ban still holds, 18 months after he was declared the winner of disputed elections.