ICC accepts Aussie tour boycott of Zimbabwe

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today gave a green signal to Australias boycott of its tour of Zimbabwe as a protest against the Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabes regime.

London, May 13 : The International Cricket Council (ICC) today gave a green signal to Australia's boycott of its tour of Zimbabwe as a protest against the Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's regime.

ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said that the council welcomed the 'clarity' given by Australian Prime Minister John Howard in stopping Australia's tour of Zimbabwe.

"The Australian government has prohibited their team from going. That's the clarity we've been seeking," the BBC quoted Speed as saying.

Earlier, Howard had ordered the national cricket team to pull out of their proposed tour of Zimbabwe.

Howard said on Sunday that he had instructed Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to contact Cricket Australia officials and tell them that the planned one-day series in September would be cancelled.

"The government through the foreign minister has written to the organisation of Cricket Australia instructing that the tour not go ahead," Howard told local media on Sunday.

"We don't do this lightly, but we are convinced that for the tour to go ahead there would be an enormous propaganda boost to the (Robert) Mugabe regime.

"The Mugabe regime is behaving like the Gestapo towards its political opponents. The living standards in the country are probably the lowest of any in the world, you have an absolutely unbelievable rate of inflation.

"I have no doubt that if this tour goes ahead it will be an enormous boost to this grubby dictator."

The government had said earlier in the week that it would indemnify Cricket Australia against any financial loss incurred as a result of cancelling the tour, estimated to be around 2.4 million Australian dollars (two million US dollars).

ANI