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Zimbabwe Bars Britain-Sponsored Election Observers
Zimbabwe has barred election observers from Kenya and Nigeria who had apparently been planted by Britain to subvert the ban by the government on the former colonial power not to send observers, the daily Herald reported on Monday.
Britain was sponsoring 10 Kenyans and seven Nigerians who had arrived in Zimbabwe as part of the European Union observer team to this weekend's parliamentary elections, the report said.
According to Zimbabwean government officials, although the observers of Kenyan and Nigerian nationalities had been travelling on their own countries' documents, it had been discovered that they were in Zimbabwe to observe the elections on behalf of Britain.
It was not immediately clear whether the Kenyans and Nigerians had left the country by Sunday afternoon, but a government spokesman confirmed that the observers had been denied accreditation.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe barred the British from monitoring this weekend's polls, citing heightened tension between the two countries over disagreements on Zimbabwe's land reform process.
The president told Commonwealth Secretary-General Don Mckinnon last month that "we will welcome any observer team, as long as they don't include a single Briton."
Zimbabwe will hold its fifth parliamentary elections on June 24 and 25.
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