Zimbabwe bars foreign cricket journalists

Zimbabwe bars foreign cricket journalists

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By Agencies

ZIMBABWE'S government has turned down applications by British media organisations to cover England's cricket tour, an England team spokesman says.

However, the decision of the Zimbabwe government will not stop the much-criticised tour from going ahead, according to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

"I expect the tour to proceed despite the very unfortunate situation regarding media accreditations," said ECB chairman David Morgan.

Media liaison officer Andrew Walpole said on Tuesday he had been told by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) that representatives of BBC television and BBC radio; the Times, the Sun, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mirror; and the Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Times and the News of the World had been denied accreditation.

"I am flabbergasted by this decision," said England captain Michael Vaughan.

There was no information on whether the applications by the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Independent, the Guardian and Reuters had been successful.

Walpole broke the news to reporters who are in Windhoek to cover two warm-up matches against Namibia. He said he had not been given reasons for the decision.

"I suggest you continue with your travel plan to Harare," Walpole told reporters.

Behind the decision to bar the journalists is Zimbabwe's hardline information minister Jonathan Moyo who accuses foreign journalists of distorting the Zimbabwean story and on occasions, insulting President Mugabe.

England's tour of Zimbabwe, comprising five one-day internationals, has caused much heart-searching among players and officials. Last year England pulled out of a World Cup one-day match in Zimbabwe because of security concerns.

Britain has campaigned for Commonwealth sanctions against Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe because of his redistribution of white-owned farms to landless blacks and his 2002 re-election in a poll which international observers said was flawed.

Morgan is due to arrive in Zimbabwe on Wednesday and said he would pursue the matter urgently.

"There are 13 (individual) rejections," Morgan told BBC radio on Tuesday.

"I find it unfortunate and embarrassing and I will be pursuing it on arrival there tomorrow morning, initially with the chairman of the ZCU and then with the appropriate government department having taken the advice of the British Embassy in Harare."

Asked if the tour should go ahead, Morgan added: "The England cricket team is committed to appear in Zimbabwe, that is well known.

"The board of the ECB has looked at the issue in great detail and has concluded by a substantial majority that we have to proceed with the tour in the absence of their being no acceptable non-compliance."

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is also expected to apply pressure on the Zimbabwe authorities - Reuters
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