an admittedly weak compromise statement concluded the Commonwealth mission to Zimbabwe at the weekend, avoiding any censure of President Robert Mugabe's government for failing to uphold the rule of law. It merely urged the government once again to maintain law and order. No mechanism was established to monitor its compliance.
However, the international pressure on Harare remains, since the European Parliament votes today on whether to impose sanctions on Mr Mugabe and his cabinet.
The British government pledged pounds £36 million sterling for land redistribution as part of the Commonwealth agreement reached in Abuja last month. The Zimbabwean government, in return, agreed to maintain the rule of law and the basic principles of democracy.
But the seven Commonwealth ministers who visited Zimbabwe saw compelling evidence that Harare had done little to uphold its promises, according to diplomats attached to the mission.
Several of the ministers pressed for a hard-hitting condemnation of the Mugabe government's continuing land seizures, political violence and media repression.
But Harare was adamant that it had done little wrong, and fought to blunt every pointed sentence in the final communique. Heated arguments raged behind closed doors all day Saturday, the unscheduled third day which had to be added to the mission because of the disagreement.
"The meeting to draft the final statement began with a majority of the ministers determined to produce a strong condemnation," a Commonwealth diplomat close to the talks said. "But the Zimbabwean government was defiant and fought us on every point. In the end, because we needed to produce a joint statement, we had to dilute it." Canada took the hardest line, supported by Britain, and was on the brink of pulling out altogether. The Nigerian Foreign Minister, Mr Sule Lamido, and Commonwealth secretary general, Mr Don McKinnon, prevailed on the group to compromise.
The ministers stood firm in rejecting efforts by Harare to prevent them speaking to government critics. They insisted on being allowed to speak to all interested parties, and stayed Friday to meet 30 groups, including human rights activists and newspaper editors.
Although no mechanism was set up to monitor the Mugabe government's actions, Britain's minister for Africa, Lady Amos, said a new mission by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to study the land crisis would give an independent report.
"Any further aid from Britain for land reform would only come after a satisfactory report from the UNDP," she said.