Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe returns to the election trail today amid signs the United States is preparing to follow the European Union in imposing sanctions against the country's leadership.
Mr Mugabe was scheduled to address a rally of his ruling ZANU-PF party in the opposition stronghold of Matabeleland to drum up support for his campaign in the March 9-10 presidential election.
The rally will be the first opportunity for Mr Mugabe, in power since leading the country to independence from Britain in 1980, to speak out against the EU's decision on Monday to freeze assets held in the European Union by Zimbabwe's ruling elite.
The sanctions, imposed after the head of the EU election monitoring mission was expelled from Zimbabwe on Saturday, also impose a ban on travel to EU countries by Mr Mugabe's inner circle.
All members of the 26-strong EU observer team which was to have monitored the election were pulled out.
The United States said last night it strongly supported the EU sanctions and was preparing a similar package to limit US travel by Zimbabwe's leaders.
"We've been working through this process to implement targeted travel sanctions that focus on the individuals responsible for or who benefit from politics that undermine Zimbabwe's democratic institutions," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"We're moving rapidly toward the final implementation of that plan but I don't have a formal announcement," he added.
The United States, like the European Union, has been strongly critical of Mugabe's restrictions on the media and of intimidation of the opposition by his supporters.
But Commonwealth leaders meeting in Australia next month were expected to hold off taking any action against Zimbabwe until after the election, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.
Mr Downer said a meeting of foreign ministers in the wings of the March 2-5 Commonwealth summit would likely wait until after the election before deciding whether to suspend Zimbabwe from the group in order to ensure electoral observers were not barred from the poll.