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Zimbabwe expels EU monitor chief
HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- The head of the European Union's election observer team said Saturday that Zimbabwe had ordered him to leave the country by the end of the day. Swedish diplomat Pierre Schori said Zimbabwe immigration officials met with him four times since Friday morning before telling him they had revoked and canceled his visa. "All this, of course, is absurd," Schori told CNN shortly before leaving the country. Schori said he directed the rest of the 30-member EU team to suspend the mission until an EU ministerial meeting Monday could decide whether to withdraw the team altogether.
The government of President Robert Mugabe struck a deal with the EU to allow an observer team only after the 15-member union threatened Zimbabwe with sanctions if it could not scrutinize the presidential election scheduled March 9-10. Zimbabwe later accused six nations, including Sweden and Great Britain, of being biased against the ruling party and said they could not send monitors. Schori, a former Swedish government official, was not invited to monitor the elections. But Zimbabwe officials did allow him to enter the country as a "tourist," stipulating he could not make political statements. He arrived February 10 and tried to gain accreditation from the government. "Schori is in breach of his visa conditions. He is guilty of trying to impose himself on our electoral process," a senior Zimbabwe government official said Saturday. "He is guilty of political arrogance and of insulting behavior and this cannot continue. He is not welcome, he cannot stay." Schori was head of the EU observer team for the June 2000 parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe. In his report to the EU, he concluded the elections were neither free nor fair. Since his arrival, Schori made statements to the media that he hoped the observer team's presence would help reduce the level of violence in the country. According to the Human Rights Forum in Zimbabwe, 19 people have died in politically motivated violence since the beginning of the year. |
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