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Commonwealth: No Consensus on Zimbabwe Sanctions VOA News 3 Mar 2002 12:32 UTC 
Commonwealth leaders meeting in Australia for a second day have failed to reach consensus on sanctions against Zimbabwe.
The political crisis in the East African nation dominated early discussions Sunday at the four-day summit in Coolum, Australia.
The Commonwealth's richer nations, including Britain and Australia, want to follow the United States and the European Union and impose sanctions on Zimbabwe. They want to suspend it from the 54-country group of former British colonies because of violence and intimidation by supporters of President Robert Mugabe ahead of Zimbabwe's elections.
Many African nations, however, opposes any sanctions until after the vote, set for March 9-10.
African states make up about one-third of Commonwealth members and have a powerful voice. It now appears that countries pushing for sanctions can expect only to get approval for a statement condemning violence.
Commonwealth leaders also made progress Sunday, creating a multi-million-dollar fund to encourage investment in Africa.
On Saturday, members approved a series of anti-terrorism measures, promising to deport suspected members of militant organizations.
They also discussed global warming issues, which are of special concern to some low-lying Pacific and Caribbean island nations such as Tuvalu and the Maldives.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
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