Britain, continental countries and others critical of Mr Mugabe will be banned from sending monitors to oversee the freedom and fairness of the poll. Sudan and Libya have been chosen “on the basis of objectivity and impartiality in their relationship with Zimbabwe”, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, the Foreign Minister, said.

“Clearly, those who believe that the only free and fair election is where the Opposition wins, have been excluded since the ruling party is poised to score yet another triumph,” he said.

Among the observer nations are Ethiopia, Nigeria, China, Iran, Venezuela and Kenya, where allegations of vote rigging sparked deadly ethnic violence in December.

Mr Mumbengegwi said that there was “one European nation” among the list of invited countries, and named Russia, where there are concerns over the election of Dmitri Medvedev, President Putin's successor, as president last month.

The presidential, parliamentary and local government elections on March 29 present Mr Mugabe, 84, with his most severe test as he stands for another term against Simba Makoni, the former Finance Minister, and Morgan Tsvangirai, the veteran pro-democracy opposition leader.

The campaign is taking place amid economic chaos, with inflation at 100,000 per cent, famine and the collapse of a once-sophisticated government structure.

Mr Mumbengegwi advised Western ambassadors in Harare on Thursday that they would be allowed to deploy accredited members of staff already based here as observers. Yesterday a note dispatched from the Foreign Ministry added that only ten officials would be allowed per embassy. “It's the coalition of the compliant,” said an envoy, who asked not to be named.

SETTING AN EXAMPLE

Sudan

President Bashir of Sudan, who came to power after a coup in 1989, was re-elected in deeply flawed elections in 2000. Abuses included torture, beatings, rape, infringement on citizens’ freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, religion and movement

Libya

Colonel Gaddafi heads the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya — a “state of the masses”. Reported torture, arbitrary arrest and detention remain problems. The Government restricts freedoms of speech, press, assembly and association

Source: US State Department human rights reports

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