Zimbabwe rejects Carter, Annan, Machel

SOUTH AFRICA- Zimbabwe has refused to letKofi Annan, Jimmy Carter and a South African human rights advocate visit the impoverished country for a humanitarian mission, the three said.

The former U.N. secretary general, the ex-U.S. president and rights advocate Graca Machel had planned to assess the southern African country's needs. They are members of The Elders, a group formed by former South African President Nelson Mandela to foster peace and tackle world conflicts.

Annan said Saturday that no official reason had been given forthe refusal, but Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper reported thatthe group had been asked to "come at a later date" to accommodatethe crop-planting season. It quoted an unnamed source as saying they were seen as antagonistic toward Zimbabwe's government.

Zimbabweans are suffering from disease and hunger while political crisis over a power-sharing government occupies its politicians. A current cholera outbreak has killed nearly 300 people in Zimbabwe, the United Nations said.

But the three were told Friday night by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating the political crisis, that efforts to secure travel visas for the a two-day trip had failed.

"We are very disappointed that the government of Zimbabwe would not permit us to come in, would not cooperate," former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said at a news conference in Johannesburg.

Johannesburg, Sunday, AP