Commonwealth Debates Zimbabwe Sanctions

The leaders of three Commonwealth nations met today in London to decide what, if any, sanctions to levy against Zimbabwe after this month's disputed presidential election.

Australia, Nigeria, and South Africa form the troika responsible for deciding Zimbabwe's fate, leading Zimbabwe's opposition leaders to believe that the Commonwealth will take no action.

Although African members have resisted, Britain and other industrialised nations have pressed for Zimbabwe's expulsion after the controversial elections resulted in Robert Mugabe being sworn in for another six year term.

Election observers said the three days of voting that began on March 9 did not adequately allow voters to freely express their choice. Other independent observer groups have said the poll was intentionally tilted to ensure Mr Mugabe's re-election.

However South African observers declared that polling in the presidential elections was legitimate. Mr Mbeki's African National Congress and Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party have been allies since the 1960s, when both were fighting white minority regimes.

The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, the Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Australian prime minister John Howard are expected to reach a decision on behalf of the 54-member Commonwealth later today.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the defeated opposition Movement for Democratic Change, today offered to hold talks with Mr Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party to end two years of political violence.

"The best way is for the two parties to negotiate," Mr Tsvangirai said in an interview from Zimbabwe with BBC radio. "What is critical at the moment is to see how we can restore legitimacy on a government that has stolen an election and that government must now deal with national questions of drought and food shortages."

During a visit to Zimbabwe yesterday, Mr Mbeki and Mr Obasanjo made it clear they would prefer to see the parties settle their differences by talking.

"Thabo Mbeki is not proposing anything, neither is Olesegun Obasanjo. All they have talked to us about is an agreement by Zanu-PF to sit down with MDC and negotiate without any preconditions," Mr Tsvangirai told the BBC.

He acknowledged that he had no power to force Mr Mugabe to negotiate with him, but said he was being "very generous" in his offer to negotiate.

"There is no reason why we should negotiate with people who have stolen the election, but we have said 'OK, this is the only way we can see the country moving forward'," he said.

The MDC said yesterday that official figures from the state electoral commission show the party getting more votes than those announced and the ruling party less in up to 50 of the 120 voting districts.

Mr Mugabe led the nation to independence from Britain in 1980 and faced little dissent until recent years, when the nation's economy collapsed and political violence erupted. He was declared the winner of the presidential vote with 56% of votes to Mr Tsvangirai's 42%.