COOLUM ATTRACTS COMMONWEALTH LEADERS, BUT NOT MUGABE.

Thirty-five Commonwealth leaders arrived in the Australian coastal resort of Coolum on Friday, but the man who has dominated much of the attention, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, was not among them. His Southern African Development Community counterparts, including President Thabo Mbeki, Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano, Botswana's Festus Mogae and Namibia's Sam Nujoma were among those who gathered at a luxury hotel ahead of Saturday's official opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). It was never expected that Mugabe -- under fire internationally and domestically -- would attend the four-day meeting scheduled to take place in the run-up to the election on March 9 and 10. His foreign minister Stan Mudenge is expected to substitute, although this could not be officially confirmed. Commonwealth officials on Friday evening told Sapa they were still in the dark about who would lead the Zimbabwean delegation. The escalating violence in Zimbabwe -- which Mugabe stands accused of orchestrating -- and what action to take against him, dominated Friday's meeting of the 54-member Commonwealth's democracy watchdog, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG). CMAG consists of a group of eight foreign ministers, including Botswana, Barbados, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh and Nigeria and Malaysia. Commonwealth secretary-general Don McKinnon told journalists that CMAG had "spent some time" on Zimbabwe, but declined to elaborate, saying only it had discussed and prepared a report for the leaders. The fact that the elections would take place within a week in Zimbabwe would have some bearing on "a future course of action". In a press conference dominated by questions about Zimbabwe, McKinnon acknowledged that the situation was deteriorating in that country and that things were "much more uncomfortable there" than what it was during the parliamentary elections of 2000. Australia, Great Britain and Canada are pushing for sanctions against Zimbabwe, with British Prime Minister Tony Blair favouring suspension from the Commonwealth. ...