Blair urges action on Zimbabwe

Tony Blair held talks with Australia's John Howard

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is calling for a "really tough" warning to be sent by the Commonwealth to Zimbabwe's leader Robert Mugabe.

Mr Blair, who accepts there is little chance of getting enough backing to suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth, nevertheless said there was an important message to be sent out.

The sense that I have is that it's more open than people might have thought a few weeks ago

Tony Blair

"It should be a really tough statement making it clear our total abhorrence and condemnation of what's happening in Zimbabwe," Mr Blair said after discussing the trouble with his Australian counterpart John Howard.

He added: "It's important to make it quite clear that if the opposition do win in Zimbabwe, they are given strong and unequivocal support and any attempt to interfere with the results would be an outrage to the democratic principles of the Commonwealth.

"There obviously has been a high level of intimidation but it does appear that the opposition enjoys considerable support.

"The sense that I have is that it's more open than people might have thought a few weeks ago."

'Go to hell'

Mr Blair also defended the 54-nation Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

He said: "I think it is important that the Commonwealth meets. It is a unique institution, it draws countries from many different continents and it gives people an opportunity to discuss issues of common interest."

Robert Mugabe, who is 78, has been in power since 1980

Earlier Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe had told Mr Blair to "go to hell" - and accused him of endorsing the opposition in the forthcoming elections.

Mr Mugabe, 22 years in power, told a ruling Zanu-PF party rally that the British Government had displayed double standards by suggesting a victory by his party could be neither free nor fair.

"It's not the right or responsibility of the British to decide on our elections. We don't decide on their own and why should they poke their pink noses in our business?

"What's this latter day Blair imperialism?"

'Situation deteriorating'

At the location of the conference, Coolum near Brisbane, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon hinted no punitive measures against Zimbabwe would be taken until after the elections.

There are about 40 Commonwealth observers monitoring the election in Zimbabwe.

"The general tenor of reporting...is that the situation is certainly not good, the situation is deteriorating," he said.

Diplomats suggested that the Commonwealth was likely to issue a strongly worded statement to Mugabe, with a final warning that the election must be free and fair or Zimbabwe would face the consequences.

Currently only Pakistan is suspended from the Commonwealth following the 1999 military coup that brought President Pervez Musharraf to power.

President Robert Mugabe's government is accused of breaches of democratic rule and intimidation during the campaign for presidential elections which take place on 9 and 10 March.

The ballot presents Mr Mugabe with the sternest test of his political life.

Tight security

More than 1,200 delegates have arrived in Coolum for the summit, which is being held amid unprecedented security.

Even the beaches are being policed

On the ground, more than 4,000 police and troops are guarding the conference centre and manning checkpoints at the airport and all major roads around the tiny resort.

High above the conference, F-18 fighter jets, carrying air-to-air missiles, are on constant patrol.

The BBC's Red Harrison in Coolum says they are the first fully-armed combat missions to be flown in Australia since World War II.

The jets are supported by early warning surveillance aircraft, and have orders to shoot down and destroy any aircraft approaching the area without permission.