Britain's government said Tuesday that it has serious concerns over a planned tour to the UK by the Zimbabwe cricket team amid a worsening political crisis in the southern African country.Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman Michael Ellam said government ministers plan to discuss the issue with British cricket officials before the scheduled matches in 2009.“It’s the government's view that the tour would be unwelcome,” Ellam told reporters. Zimbabwe are due to play two Tests and three one-day matches in England next year. They are also due to participate in cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup which will take place in Britain.The comments follow reports of a government crackdown on Zimbabwe’s opposition forces, prompting opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to seek refuge at the Dutch Embassy in Harare while reportedly fleeing soldiers controlled by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.“Under current circumstances, we would have serious concerns about Zimbabwe participating in the Twenty20 World Cup,” Ellam said.Ellam declined to say whether Brown plans to press former South African president Nelson Mandela, who is in London for a week of events to mark his 90th birthday, to condemn violence and intimidation of opposition supporters in Zimbabwe.Brown will hold private talks with Mandela on Tuesday. “It’s really up to Mr. Mandela to decide if and how he says something, it’s not really for the Prime Minister to make any recommendation to Mr. Mandela on how he should behave," Ellam said.Brown spoke with South African president Thabo Mbeki on Monday and is planning further talks with the African Union and Southern African Development Community on how to increase pressure on Mugabe.British ministers have suggested tighter restrictions on companies doing business with the Mugabe government and a ban on regime figures sending their children to be educated abroad.
