Zimbabwe poll monitors row grows

Abubakar says he is there to ensure electoral freedom

The head of the Commonwealth observer mission for Zimbabwe's presidential election has said that it is there to assist Zimbabwe, not to tell it what to do.

Abubakar: "Certainly not" a tool of European nations

The former Nigerian president, General Abdusalami Abubakar, who is leading the mission, told the BBC that he could "see no problem" with the mission's role of observing and reporting on the electoral process in the March poll.

His comments come as the European Union considers the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe in a diplomatic row over the role of European election monitors.

Twenty European election monitors arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday, bringing the total now in Harare to 30.

General Abubakar said he was "certainly not" acting as a tool of white Commonwealth countries in the election, in which President Robert Mugabe is expected to face his toughest challenge in 22 years of power.

"We are there to observe and make sure that Zimbabweans are given the freedom to elect who they want," he said.

Access row

International pressure on Zimbabwe to allow monitors has grown as human rights groups have warned of a "climate of fear and terror" in the run-up to the elections.

The European Commission is trying to clarify whether the Zimbabwean Government has refused to accredit Pierre Schori, the head of its delegation of election observers.

Banned EU countries

Sweden

Britain

Germany

The Netherlands

Denmark

Finland

On Monday the Zimbabwean foreign minister, Stan Mudenge, said that there was no invitation to the EU as an organisation.

Nine European countries had been invited only in an individual capacity, he said.

Sanctions

Reports said EU ambassadors met External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten on Wednesday, agreeing that a report on the ground situation should be prepared for a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels next Monday.

"Sanctions would be a political decision to be taken at a ministerial level," one European diplomat told the Reuters news agency.

Mr Schori is already in Zimbabwe

"Clarifications are being sought...a report is to be ready by Friday and then, if necessary, the ministers will take a decision," the diplomat said.

If implemented, the sanctions would include a travel ban on Mr Mugabe, his family and close associates, a freeze on any assets they might hold in EU member states, and a suspension of long-tem development aid.

The EU members have also said they will impose those sanctions if they believe that the voting has not been free and fair, or if media coverage of it is restricted.

Petrol bombing

As the diplomatic stand-off continued, Zimbabwe's main state-controlled daily newspaper accused the opposition Movement for Democratic Change of carrying out two petrol bomb attacks on Monday.

The Herald said the opposition had "everything to gain" from the attacks on an independent newspaper and a printing house producing opposition campaign materials.

"It will give credence to charges that the presidential poll was not free and fair," the paper said.