PM will urge team to snub Zimbabwe

Prime Minister Helen Clark will today call on the Black Caps to "abandon" their tour of Zimbabwe as Robert Mugabe's regime strikes at New Zealand criticisms of its human rights abuses.

Some of the cricketers left yesterday to gather in South Africa ahead of next month's tour. New Zealand Cricket is adamant MPs must outlaw the tour for it to be stopped.

However, Helen Clark has again increased pressure on the International Cricket Council to accept that the Government and Parliament have given a clear directive to NZ Cricket not to tour.

The ICC has twice declared that a Government directive or sporting sanctions, while not welcome, would allow a team to not tour and avoid stiff fines. The declaration was made at a meeting in Auckland last year which discussed Zimbabwe, and again this month.

ICC president Ehsan Mani has since stepped up the rhetoric against the Government, saying only legislation banning a tour would excuse the Black Caps from their obligations.

Helen Clark will seek the permission of Parliament to move a motion this afternoon which is expected to be supported by most of the 120 MPs.

Its wording has not been finalised, but drafts indicated it would specifically call on the Black Caps to quit the tour because of human rights abuses under President Mugabe.

Helen Clark's decision for the motion to be in the Prime Minister's name lends it strength.

"My understanding of the multi-party process was that most parties in this Parliament would like to see the tour abandoned," she said yesterday.

She would be calling for that in the motion.

Green Party co-leader Rod Donald will also try to get MPs to debate a proposed law seeking a sporting boycott of Zimbabwe.

But any MP can block his bill being debated, and the Act Party has previously said it will not tell cricketers who they should play sport against.

Mr Donald said yesterday that Mr Mugabe's actions were "obscene".

The political debate comes as Mr Mugabe slams a critical United Nations report on Zimbabwe as biased, saying it ignored the "noble" objectives of his "housing programme".

His bulldozing operation has cleared urban suburbs, the stronghold of his political rivals, leaving an estimated 700,000 homeless or jobless and others dead. Mr Mugabe's regime has also taken a swipe at New Zealand, with a Zimbabwean diplomat in Beijing saying the Chinese Government had told Wellington to stay out of its affairs.

A New Zealand official was to speak to China about Mr Mugabe, who is visiting Beijing, but it could not be confirmed last night what the reaction was.

NZ Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden told reporters yesterday at Christchurch that there were no security issues at the moment preventing a tour.

He said players should be cautious if they were thinking about any symbolic protests against Mr Mugabe.

Black Caps bowler Shane Bond said he had complete trust in Mr Snedden and NZ Cricket to decide if the tour should proceed and had no security concerns.