MOSCOW, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union is 'frightened' of taking control over parts of Georgia next month as mandated by a peace agreement, a Russian general was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency Monday.

MBABANE, Sept 19, 2008 (AFP) - Foreign observers monitoring Swaziland's parliamentary elections on Friday said the exclusion of political parties in Africa's last absolute monarchy made the poll 'extraordinary'.

'The non-participation of political parties makes these elections extraordinary from any others... but we hope with time things will change,'

VIENNA, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - The OSCE said Thursday it will not send any additional observers to Georgia for now, amid differences with Russia over where they should be deployed.

VIENNA, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - The OSCE will not send any additional observers to Georgia for now, the chairman of the organisation's permanent council and head of the Finnish delegation, Antti Turunen, said Thursday.

'We have reached no consensus on the observers despite one month of negotiations. We have exhausted the diplomatic way' at the OSCE, Turunen said.

BRUSSELS, September 15, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union gave the green light Monday for a 200-strong observer mission for Georgia, amid criticism that they will not deploy to rebel Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels adopted a 'joint action' and 'operation concept' allowing the monitors to be sent into Georgia and areas up to the two breakaway regions.

BRUSSELS, September 15, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union's new monitoring mission will comprise some 200 observers from around 20 nations, and supervise 'full compliance' with a six-point peace plan 'throughout Georgia.'

BRUSSELS, September 15, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union gave the green light Monday for a 200-strong observer mission for Georgia, amid rising criticism that they will not be able to deploy to rebel Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

BRUSSELS, September 15, 2008 (AFP) - EU foreign ministers on Monday gave the go-ahead for a 200-strong observer mission to be sent to Georgia by October 1, European diplomats said.

The monitors will deploy in the areas around the breakaway Georgia regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, to oversee the agreed withdrawal of Russia troops from those areas by October 10.

BRUSSELS, Sept 15, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union gave the green light Monday for a 200-strong observer mission for Georgia, amid criticism that they will not deploy to rebel Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels adopted a 'joint action' and 'operation concept' allowing the monitors to be sent into Georgia and areas up to the two breakaway regions.

VIENNA, September 13, 2008 (AFP) - OSCE monitors have been impeded by Russian troops on their mission to Georgia and South Ossetia, according to a report distributed to the organisation's 56 members this week, an OSCE official said.

BERLIN, September 11, 2008 (AFP) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany is ready to contribute about 40 of the 200-odd EU observers to be deployed in Georgia under a new peace plan, in a statement released Thursday.

MOSCOW, September 10, 2008 (AFP) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ruled out Wednesday the possibility of EU observers gaining access to Georgia's rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia under a new peace plan.

LUANDA, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - A European observer of Angola's elections said Monday that he had personally witnessed intimidation and misuse of government resources in Angola's first peacetime poll.

But African observers said the elections which handed victory to the ruling MPLA party of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos were free and fair.

LUANDA, September 6, 2008 (AFP) - The historic first post-war elections in Angola were transparent and credible, the head of the the Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer mission said Saturday.

AVIGNON, September 5, 2008 (AFP) - A European observer mission for Georgia is 'practically ready', EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Friday, adding that he thought Russia would cooperate.

LUANDA, September 5, 2008 (AFP) - The head of the European Union observer mission in Angola told AFP on Friday that the organisation of Angola's first peacetime poll after a devastating 27-year civil was was a 'disaster.'

TBILISI, September 4, 2008 (AFP) - The OSCE on Thursday said it had sent military observers in a buffer zone between Russian and Georgian troops for the first time since the two countries fought a five-day war last month.

TBILISI, September 4, 2008 (AFP) - The OSCE on Thursday said it had deployed military observers in a buffer zone between Russian and Georgian troops for the first time since the two countries fought a five-day war last month.

BRUSSELS, September 1, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union hopes to launch an observer mission to Georgia next month, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said ahead of an emergency EU summit in Brussels on the conflict.

'I hope very much that by the next (EU summit) on the 15th of October we will have all the decisions finalised ... for the mission to be deployed,' he told reporters.

MOSCOW, August 30, 2008 (AFP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on European governments Saturday to send more observers to Georgia, a Kremlin statement said.

Moscow 'calls for the dispatch of additional OSCE observers to the security zone and setting up an impartial monitoring of the acts of the Georgian government,' it said.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) agreed Tuesday in Vienna to send 20 ...

Russia and Georgia have agreed to allow 20 OSCE unarmed military observers into Georgia, Finnish ...

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe failed to agree Monday on whether to send ...

UN observers in the frontier zone being contested by Georgia and its breakaway enclave of Abkhazia ...

BRUSSELS, August 1, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union has begun deploying an observer mission to Angola to monitor the first general elections there in 16 years, the bloc's executive arm said Friday.

GABORONE, July 4, 2008 (AFP) - Zimbabwe's one-man election that handed Robert Mugabe victory was marred by 'atrocities', 'mayhem' and violence against opposition supporters, a Botswanan observer team said Friday.

GABORONE, July 4, 2008 (AFP) - Zimbabwe's one-man election that handed Robert Mugabe victory was marred by 'atrocities', 'mayhem' and violence against opposition supporters, a Botswanan observer team said Friday.

HARARE, June 29, 2008 (AFP) - Zimbabwe's one-man presidential election run-off was marred by violence and intimidation and failed to reflect the will of the people, African observer missions declared on Sunday.

HARARE, June 29, 2008 (AFP) - A group of African lawmakers which observed Zimbabwe's one-man election called on Sunday for the holding of a new round of polling, dismissing last week's vote as neither free nor fair.

NAIROBI, June 4, 2008 (AFP) - Western ambassadors on Wednesday called for vigilance and caution a week before Kenya holds five by-elections amid fears that grievances which sparked deadly post-poll this year could resurface.

HARARE, June 4, 2008 (AFP) - A southern African regional bloc is to send up to 400 observers to this month's run-off poll in Zimbabwe, double the number who oversaw the first round, a top official was quoted as saying Wednesday.

A team of European observers due to oversee Angola's landmark parliamentary elections in September may be deployed as early as July, the head of an advance mission said on Wednesday.

Speaking after arriving in Luanda at the start of an assessment mission, Stefan Gatto said his team would decide early next month whether the conditions exist to send a full observer mission.

LUANDA, May 26, 2008 (AFP) - Southern Africa's main regional body is to send a beefed-up observer mission for Zimbabwe's run-off election next month to ensure 'greater transparency,' Angola's foreign minister was quoted as saying Monday.

LUANDA, May 26, 2008 (AFP) - The Southern Africa Development Community is set to increase the number of its observers for next month's presidential run-off poll in Zimbabwe, Angolan Foreign Minister Joao Miranda told state news agency Angop on Monday.

TBILISI, May 22, 2008 (AFP) - Georgia's parliamentary elections were marred by 'a number of problems,' observers from the Organisation for Security and Coooperation in Europe said in a statement on Thursday.

HARARE, May 17, 2008 (AFP) - Authorities in Zimbabwe have rejected opposition and international calls for additional election observers for the second round of presidential elections due on June 27, state media said on Saturday.

HARARE, May 16, 2008 (AFP) - Dozens of monitors from an independent Zimbabwe election observer network have been assaulted since March's polls and many now are too scared to oversee a run-off vote next month, the group said Friday.

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2008 (AFP) - The United States said Monday that elections in Serbia seem to have gone well, adding that there were no reports of serious incidents from international observers.

'I think the Serbian people can be proud of an election, the recent election that took place,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

BELGRADE, May 12, 2008 (AFP) - International observers on Monday praised the conduct of weekend parliamentary and local elections in Serbia, describing them as well-organised and offering voters a free and diverse choice.