I noted a discussion on groups being abelian under a certain restriction on powers of elements, e.g. http://tiny.cc/chs45. Maybe this result (probably not too well-known) concludes it all.
Let $m$ and $n$ be coprime natural numbers. Assume that $G$ is a group such that $m$-th powers commute and $n$-th powers commute (that is for all $g, h$ $\in$ $G$: $g^mh^m=h^mg^m$ and $g^nh^n=h^ng^n$). Then $G$ is abelian.