Zimbabwe quits Commonwealth by ABC World News / BBC News 9:01am 8th Dec, 2003   8th December    Zimbabwe says it is quitting the Commonwealth after the organisation extended its suspension of the southern African country for violating its democratic principles.    President Robert Mugabe's information minister says the suspension, renewed at a summit overnight in the Nigerian capital Abuja, proved that "racist leaders in Britain and Australia" had taken over the Commonwealth.    Talks on Zimbabwe had dominated the four-day Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM), causing the worst split since South Africa's apartheid in the 1970s and 1980s and dividing its 54 members largely on colour lines.    Zimbabwe was suspended early last year on the grounds Mr Mugabe, who has ruled the country since independence in 1980, rigged his re-election in 2002 and persecuted his opponents.    Some African Commonwealth members lobbied hard for its readmission but failed to win the day.    British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had led the drive to keep Harare suspended, said it would send "a clear message to people in Zimbabwe that the Commonwealth is on the side of democracy and human rights".    The government in Harare said the leaders of Jamaica, Nigeria and South Africa called Mr Mugabe to urge him not to pull out, but to no avail.    "Accordingly, Zimbabwe has withdrawn its membership from the Commonwealth with immediate effect," it said. "Our problem with Britain and Australia is over the land we took over from their white kith and kin to redistribute to the indigenous black people of this country," Information Minister Jonathan Moyo told the Reuters news agency. "These racist leaders are using the Commonwealth to try to punish us."    Zimbabwe's main opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says Mr Mugabe had no right to quit the Commonwealth.    Commonwealth leaders will discuss Zimbabwe's decision to withdraw when the summit resumes tonight (Australian time). A spokesman for the organisation denies suggestions the CHGOM has been a waste of time. "It's early days, so we'll have to see what the next step is," Commonwealth spokesman Joel Kibazo told AFP.    "I am sure the leaders will try and talk about it ... and see what happens from there." He says the Commonwealth will continue in its effort to return Zimbabwe to full membership of the body.    "The aim was not to push Zimbabwe, the aim was to say right, this is the way forward for you to return into the family of the Commonwealth. It is something (Nigerian) President (Olusegun) Obasanjo will continue to work for," he said. "What we want is the return of Zimbabwe into the Commonwealth."    December 08, 2003. "Mugabe's pull-out 'unlawful'. From correspondents in Harare. (The Australian)    PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's decision to leave the Commonwealth was illegal, Zimbabwe's main opposition party said today, urging the world to help return democracy to the impoverished nation.    "The decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth was taken without cabinet approval in terms of the constitution of Zimbabwe and is therefore unlawful," secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Welshman Ncube, said in a statement.    Mugabe announced his country's withdrawal today after the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Nigeria chose to prolong Zimbabwe's suspension indefinitely and set up a committee to review its progress toward political reform.    Zimbabwe, which like most members of the Commonwealth is a former British colony, was suspended in March last year after Mugabe was reelected in a vote observers said was marred by violence and fraud.    Ncube's statement said all that the "the international community and the people of Zimbabwe require Mugabe to do is to restore ... the right to elect a government of their choice free from intimidation, violence and electoral fraud". "Mugabe still wants to play politics at the expense of the people," it added.    The decision to pull Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth was a "knee jerk reaction" by Mugabe, said MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathe, speaking in Abuja, where the Commonwealth summit was being held.    "We all knew that is how he would react, in a knee jerk manner. After all, this is a man who specialises in the destruction of his own country, so we're not surprised that this is the step that he has taken," Nyathe said in an interview with the BBC.    "We think if there was anybody who still had doubts that they were dealing with a man who has lost the plot, whose sense of reality is totally bizarre, now they know exactly what they're in for," he said.    Nyathe also called on the international community not to allow the pull-out to force Zimbabwe into even deeper isolation, and to put pressure on the government to end rights violations.    "Zimbabwe still has bilateral connections with a number of countries who must exert pressure regarding the abuse of human rights," he said.    Zimbabwe has been mired in economic crisis, against a background of political repression and unrest triggered by a controversial program to seize white-owned farms and distribute the land to blacks.    2 December, 2003. "Time running out for Mugabe " by Joseph Winter. BBC News Online    Reports of Robert Mugabe's political demise have been greatly exaggerated on numerous occasions.    As the situation in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse to disastrous in recent years, Harare has been rife with rumours that he will shortly be leaving office, either due to ill-health or political pressure.    Is Mugabe looking for a way out? So far, he has outlived many of the rumour-mongers. But he cannot carry on for ever. The government now admits that serious action is needed to revive the economy.    Annual inflation is running at more than 500%, three-quarters of Zimbabweans do not have a job and half the population needs food aid.    The government has tried to improve living standards by controlling prices but this has only led to shortages and black markets for everything from foreign currency and fuel to sugar, cooking oil and the staple food, maize meal. So now the authorities are looking for alternatives.    But until the political stand-off is ended, few businessmen or women will feel confident enough to make the investments needed to kick-start the economy.    ZIMBABWE CRISIS    Six million need food aid.Shortages of petrol, bread, sugar. 500% Inflation. Opposition complains of persecution.They reject last year's elections .    Mr Mugabe has for the first time mentioned the possibility of his retirement. He pointedly said that his land reform programme was now complete. He has previously said that he wanted to remain in power until he had redistributed Zimbabwe's farms from whites to blacks. Just a few hundred white farmers now remain on the land, from some 4,000 in 2000.    For the first time, he also raised the possibility of meeting opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai - a man he usually dismisses as a "sell-out" and "British stooge". Government spokesmen insist that Mr Mugabe, 79, has no intention of stepping down until the next elections, due in 2007, but these denials have not silenced the speculation. Reading between the lines, it seems that Mr Mugabe may well be looking for a way out.    African leaders, who have been unwilling to openly criticise Mr Mugabe, say they just want to get his Zanu-PF party to talk to Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Both sides say they are keen to resume talks, which were suspended last year.    But Mr Mugabe wants the opposition to first recognise his 2002 re-election. This could be an attempt to put Zanu-PF in pole position when it comes to choosing his successor. Alternatively, Mr Mugabe may be trying to bring the MDC into a Zanu-PF dominated government of national unity. The MDC has strong support from both the international community and Zimbabwe's business sector.    Talks between the MDC and government broke up last yearTheir recognition of his government may be enough to restore some confidence in the economy. But the MDC insists that Mr Mugabe step down and then a transitional government, with it as an equal partner, be established to oversee new elections.    Mr Mugabe would presumably prefer to hand over power to a chosen successor from within his own party who would guarantee him a peaceful retirement. Mr Tsvangirai has promised that the man who led Zimbabwe to independence in 1980 would enjoy immunity for any crimes he may have committed in recent years.    But this does not seem to be enough for Mr Mugabe. Or maybe it is not enough for his Zanu-PF lieutenants who have been waiting for many years for their turn in the sun. These are the issues which will come up if and when dialogue between Zanu-PF and the MDC does eventually start.    Until these political questions are solved, the economy will continue to worsen, making life even more difficult for the ordinary Zimbabweans both sides claim to represent.    December 8, 2003    Amnesty Internatonal Welcomes Commonwealth Commitment to Human Rights    Amnesty International's delegation attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) today welcomed the general commitments given to human rights objectives on democracy and development, particularly the commitment to promote "machinery to protect human rights" and greater partnership within the Commonwealth to achieve the objectives.    The Aso Rock Declaration adopted by the heads of government urges the Commonwealth Ministers and the Secretary-General to work on implementation and requested a progress report to the next CHOGM in Malta in 2005.    "These commitments must now be turned into an Action Plan for specific Commonwealth cooperation between governments, business and civil society," said delegation head Ced Simpson.    "Such an Action Plan should take account of specific recommendations made by civil society organizations at the Commonwealth Peoples Forum which preceded the CHOGM," Mr Simpson said, "including the call for all governments to ratify and implement international human rights treaties."
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