N. Zealand drops sanctions for Zimbabwe cricket tour

The New Zealand government has approved a tour by the Zimbabwe cricket team, saying Sunday it would waive travel sanctions on teams from the African nation. Zimbabwe are scheduled to play in New Zealand next year for the first time in 11 years and Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said the government would not block the tour. Sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe several years ago to express opposition to alleged human rights abuses by the government of Robert Mugabe. McCully said visas would be granted to the cricketers and management conditional on the situation in Zimbabwe "not deteriorating in a significant way." A proposed tour of New Zealand by Zimbabwe in 2005 was cancelled when the government refused to grant the players visas.