Abuja, Nigeria, Dec 07: A Commonwealth panel on Zimbabwe ended work today without being able to bridge a growing divide on whether to continue suspension of the troubled southern African nation, the British government said. Briefing reporters, Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said South Africa - one of six nations on the suspension-review panel - was insistent that the ban on President Robert Mugabe's regime be lifted.
Differences over the increasingly divisive year-old suspension of Zimbabwe have split the 52-nation summit of Britain and its former colonies, which together represent nearly one-third of the world's 6 billion people.
Britain has led the drive to continue the suspension, imposed after President Robert Mugabe was widely accused of bullying and cheating his way into re-election in Zimbabwe last year.
Several, but not all, African and other developing nations have urged that the suspension be lifted, saying isolation is no way to bring change in Zimbabwe.
The British spokesman said Blair, who had planned to leave the summit this afternoon, would remain and argue for maintaining the suspension. "We will stay as long as it takes to argue the case," he said. Bureau Report