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Ther e was no additional sanction barring Zimbabwe from attending the Commonwealth summit to be held in Nigeria in December, President Thabo Mbeki said yesterday.

Mbeki reminded the National Assembly that Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth had been for a period of a year, which had passed in March.

He said the decision to suspend Zimbabwe for a year was taken within a very specific mandate.

"The troika decided to impose a maximum sentence of suspension for a year and that has been served. I am not aware of any additional sanctions".

Mbeki and Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo sit on a troika chaired by Australian Prime Minister John Howard tasked with overseeing the Commonwealth's response to the alleged human rights violations in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth in March last year over its poor human rights record and President Robert Mugabe's re-election in a vote that was widely condemned as rigged.

When the initial 12-month suspension ended in March this year, the Commonwealth announced the southern African country's suspension would remain in place until December.

Mbeki has been pushing for Zimbabwe to be allowed to attend to the summit, and Nigeria has indicated it may issue an invitation.

Yesterday the President said a country's attendance at the summit was based on an invitation from the host country.

"The invitation will come from Obasanjo. This is a matter he will deal with. So I think we will await a decision from the host on whether certain recommendations will be accepted".

On Wednesday French news agency AFP quoted a spokesperson for the body saying that Zimbabwe would not attend the summit even if other African nations wanted it to attend.

"All I can say is that the common practice is that those countries that are suspended do not attend CHOGM," spokesperson Joel Kibazo said on the sidelines of a Commonwealth finance ministers meeting taking place in the Brunei capital. – Sapa.

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