G-8 urgently issues statement voicing 'grave concern' over Zimbabwe

KYOTO, June 28 Kyodo - The Group of Eight foreign ministers urgently issued a joint statement Friday expressing ''grave concern'' over the situation in Zimbabwe and urging the African nation to work with international organizations to achieve a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

''We deplore the actions of the Zimbabwean authorities -- systematic violence,
obstruction and intimidation -- which have made a free and fair presidential
runoff election impossible,'' said the statement issued after the two-day
foreign ministerial meeting in Kyoto.

The ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and
the United States said in the statement, ''We will not accept the legitimacy of
any government that does not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people.''

The G-8 nations called on the Zimbabwean authorities to ''cooperate fully with
the international efforts'' including those of the African Union and the United
Nations.

The G-8 ministers urgently decided Friday to release the statement as
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was planning to hold a runoff election the
same day despite mounting international calls to reconsider it, according to a
Japanese Foreign Ministry official.==Kyodo