The Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum issued a statement Tuesday to say that three of their regional observers were detained for 6 hours last night, denied access to Zimbabwe, and deported back to South Africa.

The Forum said that through the offices of the Action Support Centre they had planned to support a regional group of election observers with delegates drawn from Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.

The deportations happened despite having obtained the necessary accreditation from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Immigration officials said that the three observers needed a specific letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, giving them permission. The rest of the team were given entry, without this formality being requested.

The observers intention was to visit areas that have a history of pre-election violence and intimidation and where concern has been raised, ahead of these elections, that intimidation is once again being used.

The Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum said they were 'gravely concerned that even those observers from within the region, who have no agenda other than to provide support to their civil soiciety counterparts, and to produce an impartial account of the election process and the announcement of the results, have been denied access.'

'If the Zimbabwean Government has nothing to hide, and is confident that these elections are going to provide Zimbabweans with an opportunity to freely express their political will then there should be no concerns regarding the intention of civil society to monitor these election processes.'

The Forum went on to call on SADC and the African Union to uphold the principles enshrined in the SADC guidelines on elections and said they plan to embark on a program of mass action in support of the desire of Zimbabweans for a free and fair election, and against any violence and displacement.