By Violet Gonda

6 July 2005

In what observers have described as a bizarre move the Mugabe regime has asked the African Union to withdraw its envoy and to follow "proper procedures." The envoy, Tom Nyandunga a rapporteur for refugees on the AU Commission on Human and People's Rights, has been in Zimbabwe since Sunday to investigate the regime's so called clean up exercise. But the government refuses to clear him, saying his mission was un-procedural and in breach of protocol.

The envoy holds a very senior position in the AU commission and some people wonder why there has been no outcry from the mother body about how he is being treated. Critics say this goes to show that the AU is toothless and is hampered by it crippling adherence to protocol. Our source told us that the envoy is stuck at the Ambassador hotel. He is not allowed to do anything and it's reported that he has not even conducted an unofficial site visit to see the effects of the crackdown in Harare.