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LONDON - Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Wednesday the Commonwealth's democracy watchdog should put Zimbabwe formally on its agenda -- the first step to possible suspension from the organisation.

Downer said ministers from the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, meeting in London on Thursday, should review whether the reported violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe meant it had violated the Commonwealth's code of good governance.

Ministers "ought to consider...inscribing Zimbabwe onto the agenda of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) and therefore giving consideration to whether Harare is in breach of the Commonwealth basic declaration," Downer told BBC radio.

"You can suspend countries from the Commonwealth if they are in breach of the...declaration," said Downer, whose country will host a Commonwealth summit next March.

CMAG ministers from Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Botswana, Britain, Canada, Malaysia and Nigeria will meet in London on Thursday for talks on Zimbabwe.

In recent meetings they have suspended both Fiji and Pakistan following military coups, but their talks on the violent campaign of farm occupations in Zimbabwe have been restricted to informal discussions because President Robert Mugabe's government holds power through recognised elections.

"Australia thinks (the Commonwealth declaration) means that a country has to be governed according to the rule of law, and human rights have to be observed," Downer said.

"It's not just a question of whether the government itself was elected in a democratic way."

Downer said the Commonwealth ministers should also maintain pressure on Mugabe to allow international observers to oversee presidential elections in March.

"In the leadup to these elections there has been a lot of substantial evidence of political harrassment. You could only expect that to continue unless there is some greater scrutiny of what is going on on the ground in Zimbabwe," he said.

Downer said "absolutely nothing" had improved in Zimbabwe since Mugabe's government pledged in September to end the violent occupation by its supporters of white-owned farms.

"There has just been a continuation of political violence and political harrassment over the last couple of months," he said. "That's why the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group will have to talk about the issue yet again." - Nampa/Reuters

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