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Row with Britain over diplomatic bags

    JOHANNESBURG

    As British diplomats guarded a seven-ton embassy shipment at Harare airport on Tuesday, customs officers refused to release the boxes and packages for a fourth day in a growing row over diplomatic exemption from such searches.

    According to officials and local television reports, Zimbabwean authorities have refused to release the shipment bound for the British High Commission, arguing they have the right to open unusually large diplomatic packages. British officials insist the “diplomatic bags” are exempt from inspection under the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. They were quoted as describing the action by customs men as “deplorable”.

    Relations between Britain, the former colonial power, and Zimbabwe have deteriorated over criticism in London of President Robert Mugabe’s economic policies, and its military intervention in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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