Election observer ‘ordered to leave Zimbabwe’

Europe’s top election observer has been ordered to leave Zimbabwe by the Robert Mugabe regime, MEP Glenys Kinnock said today.

The order came just hours after Pierre Schori said he had no immediate plans to leave the troubled country, despite government threats to throw him out for violating the terms of his visa.

Mr Schori’s expulsion will ‘‘almost certainly’’ lead to EU sanctions against Zimbabwe when foreign affairs ministers meet on Monday, Mrs Kinnock warned.

Mr Schori, who is Sweden’s ambassador to the United Nations, was sent to Zimbabwe as the head of the EU mission to observe next month’s presidential elections.

Mrs Kinnock, the co-president of the EU-African Caribbean Pacific joint assembly, said: ‘‘Mr Mugabe has said he has to leave, that calls into question the whole purpose of our being there.

‘‘In my view it’s time to draw a line under our efforts to work with the Mugabe regime.’’