Voting Observer Is Forced Out of Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe —  The government forced Europe’s top election observer to leave the country Saturday, deepening a dispute with the European Union that threatens to further isolate the southern African country.

Zimbabwe had refused to recognize Pierre Schori, Sweden’s ambassador to the United Nations, as head of the 150-member European observer mission for March 9-10 presidential elections, in which President Robert Mugabe faces the biggest challenge yet to his 22-year hold on power.

Zimbabwean officials only granted Schori a two-week tourist visa when he entered the country Feb. 10. Schori said immigration officials canceled his visa as of midnight Saturday after “the government had decided that I must leave today.”

He said he had been told Friday that he could stay in Zimbabwe as a tourist provided that he refrained from making any public statements, a demand repeated by a government official in published comments Saturday.