/ 26 August 2001

COMMONWEALTH PLANS TALKS ON ZIM CRISIS

TALKS on Zimbabwe have been rescheduled for September 6 and 7, Nigeria’s ambassador to Harare said on Wednesday. Nigerian High Commissioner Wilberforce Juta, said the talks, to be hosted by Nigeria and initially planned for mid August, were delayed because of logistical hitches. The talks are aimed at seeking ways to heal strained relations between Zimbabwe and its colonial power, Britain over controversial land reforms. The meeting would be the first of the group of seven Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Australia, Jamaica, Britain and Zimbabwe itself. The Commonwealth ministerial group was created in June, after Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government flatly rejected a similar fact-finding mission proposed in March. – AFP