Zimbabwe accuses U.N. rights expert of provocation

United Nations special investigator on torture Manfred Nowak speaks during a news conference in Amman in this June 29, 2006 file photo.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe on Friday accused United Nations torture expert Manfred Nowak, who was expelled from the country, of trying to provoke a diplomatic incident by ignoring a request to delay his trip.

Nowak said he would recommend that the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) take action against Harare after Zimbabwean security officials detained him on arrival overnight and forced him onto a South African-bound plane on Thursday.

Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said on Friday that Nowak, the UNHRC's special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, had ignored a decision by President Robert Mugabe's government to postpone a week-long visit.

Nowak had said he received an invitation from the office of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who formed a unity government with President Robert Mugabe in February that has been strained by a dispute over implementing a power-sharing agreement.

Nowak said his expulsion underscored disarray in the new administration. Mumbengegwi is a close ally of Mugabe.

"You are dealing with independent sovereign states, and you do not treat independent sovereign states in that manner -- whether you like it or not I am coming into your country," Mumbengegwi told a news conference.

"This was a calculated move to create a diplomatic incident."

Nowak said the refusal to allow him entry to Zimbabwe was either a misunderstanding or something more deliberate on the part of some members of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

Mumbengegwi said he was "not aware" that Nowak had been asked to proceed to Harare by Tsvangirai, and that his comments about a dysfunctional government reflected his political views.

Zimbabwe was still ready to invite Nowak -- who has said he will never return to the southern African country -- "at a mutually agreed date," he said.

Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, formed a power-sharing government with Tsvangirai to end months of feuding in the impoverished country.

But Tsvangirai said two weeks ago he was boycotting the arrangement until political problems had been resolved.

Nowak's invitation marked the first time Zimbabwe had offered to open up to an expert working for the UNHRC.

The urgency of an objective fact-finding by an independent U.N. expert was highlighted by allegations of the arrest, intimidation and harassment of MDC supporters and of human rights defenders in the past few days, the U.N. said.

(Reporting by Cris Chinaka; Editing by Giles Elgood)