HARARE, Feb 16: A European Union mission to observe Zimbabwe’s presidential election hung in the balance on Saturday after diplomatic sources said its Swedish head was being expelled — a move that could provoke EU sanctions.

Western diplomatic sources said the government had ordered Pierre Schori to leave the country by midnight local time.

But a spokesman for the Swedish diplomat, who heads a team of Europeans hoping to monitor the March 9-10 presidential poll, declined comment and said Schori would issue a statement later.

There was no immediate comment from Zimbabwe immigration officials or Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo, who had said Schori risked being thrown out of the country.

Schori told a news briefing earlier that he would stay put despite being refused permission to lead the European Union vote monitoring. But he would not speculate on what would happen on Monday when EU foreign ministers meet to discuss his report.

The Union has threatened President Robert Mugabe with sanctions if Zimbabwe hampers its efforts to observe the poll.

“I’ve submitted a report on the state of our observer mission to the (EU) Commission in Brussels,” Schori said.

“That report will be the basis for a discussion on Monday in the general affairs council, that is to say the 15 foreign ministers of the 15 European member states...They will then decide upon the EU election observer mission in Zimbabwe.”

Mugabe, who faces the stiffest electoral challenge of his 22 years in power, has rejected European criticism of his human rights record and accusations of dirty tricks and intimidation in the campaign for next month’s voting.—Reuters