HARARE, March 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has thanked his African allies for their support at this week's Commonwealth summit, the government newspaper, The Herald, reported Tuesday.

"We praise those countries attending the Commonwealth meeting and urge them to remain united," he said at an election campaign rally in Gokwe, west of Harare.

African countries, led by Nigeria and South Africa, rallied around Zimbabwe in the face of a drive by Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand to sanction Harare for political violence ahead of this weekend's historic vote, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The Commonwealth leaders decided to allow a panel of three leaders – Nigerian, South African and Australian – to decide what to do in light of a Commonwealth observers' report after the elections.

Suspension would bar Zimbabwe from Commonwealth events in a largely symbolic act, but it opens the door to states imposing sanctions, following the lead of the United States and the European Union who have already done so, BBC’s online news service reported.

Mugabe is accused by Britain, the European Union, the United States and human rights organizations of using autocratic means to ensure his reelection, and of plunging the country into violence, with at least 31 people killed since the start of the year.

Critics of the 78-year-old president say a free and fair election will not be possible in the current political climate.

In a separate editorial, the Herald headlined that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had "lost the battle of Brisbane", the city closest to Coolum, Australia, the venue of the Commonwealth summit.

However, Blair denied that the Commonwealth had split exactly on black-white lines.

Many African leaders felt very strongly, he said, about the need to act on Zimbabwe. But Blair admitted that some did not.

"I think there was a sense in which they felt that Britain has some neo-colonial interest in this situation. We've got no interest other than in seeing justice done," Blair said.

"The credibility of my country, investment in my country, doesn't depend on Zimbabwe. But for Africa, it is a major issue on which their credibility and the possibility of investment flows depend," Blair added, quoted by the BBC.

Britain, the former colonial ruler, has nothing to teach Zimbabwe about democracy, said Mugabe, however.

"There is no one who can teach us about elections. There is no one who can teach us about democracy and human rights. There was no democracy here, no human rights at all until the people of Zimbabwe decided to fight," he said at a recent campaign rally.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claimed the Commonwealth's inaction gave Mugabe carte blanche to pursue a bloody and lawless strategy for winning the weekend vote, when MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, 49, poses the sternest challenge ever to Mugabe's 22-year grip on power.

At the end of the summit, the Commonwealth leaders demanded that the benefits of globalization be shared more widely and be focused on eliminating poverty.

It was also announced Nigeria is to host the organization’s next gathering in 2003.

Officials at this year's summit said Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo would host the main summit in the capital, Abuja, towards the end of next year.

Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth for four years in 1995, after the then military ruler General Sani Abacha ordered the execution of the activist, Ken Saro Wiwa.

The last Commonwealth summit to be held in Nigeria was in the 1960s, before the onset of almost 30 years of military rule.