Jul 13, 2005, 5:15 GMT
Wellington - The New Zealand government was seeking urgent clarification from the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday of a possible way to stop the national Black Caps team from touring Zimbabwe next month.
The government strongly opposes the tour because of widespread human rights abuses by the regime of President Robert Mugabe but has said it will not breach democratic principles by banning the players from going.
New Zealand Cricket, the sports governing body, says it is contractually committed and has no alternative but to go because it faced crippling financial penalties from the ICC if it cancelled the tour.
But a report from London on Wednesday said ICC president Ehsan Mani had written to Foreign Minister Phil Goff saying that while the international body would not interfere with the 10 member nations tour schedule, it "also recognised that governments will, from time to time, elect to use sporting sanctions as a tool in their foreign policy programmes".
Mani added: "Our members accept and respect that where this clear directive is given by a national government, the obligations of the future tours programme will not apply."
Commentators saw this as a broad hint and Goff said he was seeking clarification from the ICC on whether it would see a motion passed by the Parliament urging the team not to go as a clear directive.
"If the ICC is saying that a parliamentary motion would be adequate, then that is something that could be readily achieved," he said.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Cricket said its position had not changed following a meeting with former Zimbabwe test cricketer Henry Olonga who flew to New Zealand from his home in England to lobby against the tour.
New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden told Radio New Zealand the meeting was helpful in providing a fresh and direct perspective on Zimbabwe, but there had been no change of stance.
The government has said it will not issue visas to the Zimbabwe team, whose patron is President Mugabe, to make a scheduled return tour of New Zealand at the end of the year.
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