The United Nations says the Zimbabwe government has at the last minute cancelled a week-long visit by an independent UN torture expert.

The UN says Austrian academic Manfred Nowak was informed that his visit had been postponed as he arrived in Johannesburg on the way to Zimbabwe. Mr Nowak is the UN human rights council's special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. He was scheduled to conduct a fact-finding mission in Zimbabwe from 28 October until 4 November.
 

The invitation had been announced earlier this month and Mr Novak had welcomed it as a sign that the Zimbabwe government was willing to open dialogue on human rights and allow unlimited access to police and prison cells. Harare now says that it wants to concentrate on talks on the continuing political crisis in Zimbabwe with fellow members of the South African Development Community. Mediators from the SADC and leaders of the power-sharing government are scheduled to meet in Harare on Thursday.

Mr Novak says he welcomes the talks but they are not reason enough to cancel his visit, adding that he hoped his fact-finding mission would be allowed to go ahead. The postponement comes as fresh allegations of arrests, intimidation and harassment of MDC supporters emerged.