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Thursday, January 31, 2002 - Web posted at 8:35:17 am GMT

LONDON/HARARE - Commonwealth foreign ministers rejected British-led calls on Wednesday for Zimbabwe's suspension from the organisation as Harare arrested three journalists for protesting against a tough new media bill.

The eight-member Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, the organisation's democracy watchdog, called instead for the immediate deployment of election observers for Zimbabwe's presidential elections on March 9 and 10.

"The issue that is on the table at the moment is to ensure that we have free and fair elections," CMAG chairman Mompati Merafhe, Botswana's foreign minister, told a news conference after the day-long talks in London.

The Commonwealth decision came hours after three reporters were arrested outside Zimbabwe's parliament when riot police broke up a media protest against new legislation which was revised on Wednesday but still seeks to impose tight controls on local and foreign media.

Critics say the measure aims to suppress criticism of President Robert Mugabe in the run-up to the March elections in which he faces the strongest threat to his 22-year rule.

The draft bill is part of a raft of legislation that has drawn international condemnation, including the threat of European Union sanctions.

The Commonwealth move was a rebuff to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who had sought Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth's main decision-making bodies and a recommendation from the ministers for its complete suspension at a March 2-5 Commonwealth summit in Australia.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said engagement, not isolation, was the best course and that cutting Zimbabwe off would have left the international community even fewer levers of influence over Mugabe.

"The easiest thing would be to totally disengage and then no one could put any pressure on at all," McKinnon told Reuters.

"Everyone is calling for suspension. What we do know is that if there had been suspension there would have been no election observers."

British sources said Australia, Canada and Barbados had supported Straw's tough stance but faced resistance from the other members -- Botswana, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Nigeria.

"The overall result...is less than we hoped but more than we expected," Straw said, pointing to the demands for Zimbabwe to accept Commonwealth election observers.

The CMAG statement expressed deep concern at Mugabe's clampdown and called for "an immediate end to violence and intimidation and that the police and army refrain from party political statements and activities".

It said all parties in the March 9-10 elections, in which Mugabe is seeking to extend his grip on power, should be allowed to campaign freely without fear of intimidation.

EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to impose a travel ban on the top 20 individuals in Mugabe's inner circle and their families and to freeze their foreign assets if Zimbabwe prevented the deployment of EU election observers.

Mugabe, who has accused Britain of orchestrating a campaign to demonise his country, said he would accept foreign election observers -- except for Britons.

Suspension from the 54-nation Commonwealth, an organisation of mainly ex-British colonies, would be a largely symbolic step.

International concern over Zimbabwe's two-year wave of white-owned farm seizures has grown before the March poll.

ZANU-PF convened a special caucus meeting on Wednesday to press members to close ranks and ensure the media bill's passage after weeks of delay due to internal wrangling. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told parliament a revised version was due to be debated in parliament on Thursday.

A copy of the revised Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill obtained by Reuters appeared little changed from the previous version and would still restrict access for foreign reporters and force local journalists to get yearly accreditation from a state commission.

Parliament has also passed electoral amendments which ban independent election monitors and deny voting rights to millions of Zimbabweans abroad. Nampa-Reuters