Commonwealth leaders will try to find a way to resolve their dispute over the suspension of Zimbabwe from the 54-member grouping but do not want the issue to dominate their summit, the body's secretary general told reporters yesterday.

On the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Don McKinnon said ministers would meet to review Zimbabwe's progress since its suspension in March last year, and give their report to the 52 world leaders due to arrive overnight for the summit.

"The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group ... will discuss the countries currently suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth.

Those countries include Zimbabwe and Pakistan," he said in the summit's host city Abuja.

But McKinnon said that while Pakistan was "very busy building democracy again" Zimbabwe had not made much progress in national reconciliation since the disputed election in March last year, which led to its suspension.

He also said that summit host President Olusegun Obasanjo, who sits on a Commonwealth troika on Zimbabwe, along with Australia and South Africa, and has in the past backed a return of Zimbabwe to the grouping of former British colonies, agreed with him on the issue.

Obasanjo visited Harare last month but decided not to invite the Zimbabwean leader to the Commonwealth summit, saying Zimbabweans have been "reaching out to themselves, but perhaps not quite as much as one would wish".

"President Obasanjo indicated to me that progress had not been made.

Commonwealth leaders have said we don't want this issue to dominate CHOGM," he said, using the acronym of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

"There is a will to move the issue forward, and to move on from this issue," he added.

Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth 20 months ago after veteran leader Robert Mugabe was re-elected in a poll marred by violence and fraud.

Some African members have lobbied for its readmission, and the issue has threatened to split the Commonwealth on north-south lines. – Sapa-AFP.