with the responsibility of ensuring that Zimbabwe complies with the regional protocol had yet to receive permission to visit. Non-government organisations (NGOs), among them Amnesty International, 32 Nigerian NGOs and 17 from Zimbabwe, have expressed concern about the continued abuses of human rights in the country. African Union Chairman, President Olusegun Obasanjo, has been urged to prevail on Zimbabwe, to fully implement recommendations of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), on improving human rights conditions. The Commission made a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe in June 2002, and the Union's findings and recommendations were adopted in January 2005, at its summit in Abuja. "The majority of human rights concerns documented by the fact-finding mission in 2002 remain serious problems today," the NGOs said. On 19 February 2005, 32 nations were invited by President Robert Mugabe to observe the parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe. Domestic poll observers require a 'registration fee' of US$ (in local currency) – approximately the monthly minimum wage. Approved Zimbabwean observers only announced two days before the elections . International observers (except South Africa) are required to pay US$300, while South African observers pay US$100. Of international observer teams, only South African ones have sufficient personnel and resources to cover rural areas. Other organisations among those invited are the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, Law Society of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Affirmative Action Group, Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, Centre for Peace Initiatives in Southern Africa and the Southern African Institute for Democracy and Good Governance. Aziz Pahad, deputy foreign minister for South Africa, said the country has been invited to observe the Zimbabwean poll in at least five different capacities. It has been invited as a member of SADC, as chair of the organ on politics, defence and security, and as a neighbouring country. The ruling African National Congress has also been asked to send an observer team, while parliament has set up a multi-party delegation. Five members of South Africa's governing African National Congress party arrived in Harare on 10 March headed by James Motlatsi, the first foreign observers. The 20-member South African parliamentary observer mission led by ANC chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe left for Zimbabwe on 14 March, and will return to South Africa on 3 April. On 18 April, the Independent Democrats Member of Parliament and mission member Vincent Gore withdrew, saying that since their arrival in Harare,