London - Commonwealth Foreign Ministers yesterday sought to keep up the pressure on the Zimbabwean President, Mr Robert Mugabe, over violence directed against white farmers and opposition leaders in the African country.
Following a two-day meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) here, ministers addressed a press conference, in which they voiced continuing concerns over the situation in Zimbabwe, a former British colony.
"Recalling that they had expressed concern over conditions in Zimbabwe at their meetings in May 2000 and again in March 2001, ministers again registered concerns that the situation in Zimbabwe had not improved," an official statement said. "They deeply regretted that the government of Zimbabwe had not agreed to receive three CMAG ministers (for a mission to probe and report back on the situation there) as proposed at their last meeting" in March.
The group however expressed support for a special two-day Commonwealth meeting in Abuja beginning tomorrow, where the growing crisis in Zimbabwe will be discussed. The Commonwealth foreign ministers said they would review the situation in Zimbabwe at their next meeting on October 5th immediately before the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Brisbane, Australia.