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HARARE - Most ambassadors from 14 nations in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have protested a Commonwealth team's talks on Zimbabwe's political crisis, the state-run Herald said Wednesday.

In a letter to Commonwealth secretary general Don McKinnon, the ambassadors in London said the decision to put Zimbabwe on the agenda for a Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) on Wednesday had no merit or basis, the Herald said, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.

The report did not quote from the letter, but said ambassadors from all 14 SADC members except Botswana, currently CMAG chairman, had signed on.

Britain, the former colonial power, is expected to use the CMAG meeting Wednesday to recommend ousting Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth over concerns about President Robert Mugabe's increasingly authoritarian rule ahead of the March 9-10 presidential elections.

At a special summit in early January in Malawi, Mugabe won a show of support from neighboring leaders after he again promised to hold free and fair elections.

The SADC comprises Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, the Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Nampa-Sapa-AFP

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