(BRUSSELS) - EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel expressed concern Thursday about ongoing violence and aid restrictions in Zimbabwe, ahead of key power-sharing talks this weekend.

"I am concerned about the continued widespread violence and intimidation. I am also deeply worried about the persistent restrictions imposed to humanitarian activities," he said in a statement.

Michel called on Zimbabwe's authorities "to denounce and abandon violence and to provide unfettered humanitarian access across the country in order to deliver much-needed aid to the most vulnerable.

"The full application of these measures is essential to create the proper environment for (the) much-needed negotiations aimed at ending the political crisis," he said.

The remarks came as Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was in Dakar to meet Senegalese president Abdoullaye Wade ahead of talks with President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF.

Tsvangirai and Mugabe signed an accord on July 21 to begin talks on sharing power after a lengthy election dispute. The talks are set to resume Sunday.

Mugabe was re-elected in a run-off poll last month after Tsvangirai pulled out, citing a campaign of intimidation and violence against his supporters that had killed dozens and injured thousands.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change opposition said Wednesday that two of its activists have been killed by suspected ruling party militias since the accord was signed, bringing to 122 the number it says have died in related violence since the March polls.

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