Zimbabwe bowler to add voice to boycott

Zimbabwe's first black test cricketer, Henry Olonga, is to lend his weight to calls for a sporting boycott of Robert Mugabe's troubled country when he meets New Zealand Cricket here next week.

The visit of the banished cricketer will increase pressure on the Black Caps not to tour Zimbabwe next month and on the Government to consider legal options to prevent national teams going there.

Olonga was forced to flee Zimbabwe after protesting human rights abuses by the Mugabe regime.

He will meet NZ Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden, who has said the tour by the Black Caps must go ahead because the cricketers are bound by International Cricket Council playing contracts.

If they pull out of the tour for other than security reasons, they face crippling fines and compensation claims, and may be suspended from the sport.

The Green Party, which has led the campaign against the tour, is paying for Olonga's visit out of money originally set aside for the election campaign.

Co-leader Rod Donald said the money was better spent on bringing Olonga here, as the best person to try to persuade the Black Caps not to go.

"This issue is more important than party politics, stopping the genocide is more important. Henry is a symbol of cricketers' opposition to the Mugabe regime."

Mr Mugabe is patron of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.

Although his regime has been condemned for years for its brutality, human rights abuses have escalated in the past month with the bulldozing of hundreds of thousands of people's homes in the urban strongholds of Mr Mugabe's political rivals.

Children have been killed in the rubble, while other people left without shelter or food have died in the cold.

Olonga and fellow Zimbabwe player Andy Flower both now live in England and were forced from their southern African home for security reasons after their public protests during the 2003 Cricket World Cup there.

They wore black armbands to mourn the death of democracy and issued a lengthy statement condemning Mr Mugabe's regime.

It said they could not take the field "in good conscience" knowing millions of their compatriots were starving and oppressed, with hundreds of thousands likely to die of Aids, starvation and poverty.

"We are aware that people have been murdered, raped, beaten and had their homes destroyed because of their beliefs," the statement said.

Olonga has spent some of this summer playing cricket with Black Caps Hamish Marshall and Chris Cairns in England.

He said cricket was a huge industry for troubled Zimbabwe, but people had to weigh up the most important things.

"To me, it's the suffering of the masses in Zimbabwe.

"If it means boycotting one or two tours, then I'm for it."

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