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Club faces
collapse
Political Editor Munyaradzi Huni
THE non-participation of
Zimbabwe at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting set for Abuja, Nigeria,
from December 5 to 8 could see the death of the colonial grouping as the black
Commonwealth countries are against the "unfair treatment" of Zimbabwe by the
white Commonwealth, African and European diplomats in Harare have predicted.
The diplomats added that Zimbabwe should not attend Chogm even if it
receives a last minute invitation as Nigeria has "failed to handle the matter
properly by succumbing to pressure from the white Commonwealth".
Foreign
Ministers in the Southern African region last week met in Pretoria, South
Africa, where they urged the Commonwealth not to isolate Zimbabwe.
Speaking during separate interviews with The Sunday Mail, the diplomats,
who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said the black Commonwealth should go to
Abuja "to kill" the Commonwealth as it is now being used to show British
dominance.
"For the past four to six months, we have been going around
the country to see for ourselves whether the allegations about human rights
abuses are true and we discovered that these allegations were not true.
"We are sending our findings to our leaders so that when they go to
Abuja, they will argue with facts and not media reports," said one African
diplomat.
The diplomat added that Zimbabwe should not only attend Chogm
but should be re-admitted into the Commonwealth Councils. "The suspension is not
warranted and Zimbabwe should be re-admitted without any debate."
Another African diplomat said: "Now that the white Commonwealth seems to
have won the battle to force Nigeria not to invite Zimbabwe to Chogm, the black
Commonwealth should go to Abuja to kill the Commonwealth.
"The grouping
reminds us of the horrible years under British rule and if the British are now
using the same to show their dominance letâs show them that the Club is useless
and we can do without it.
"Maybe Nigeria was under lots of pressure from
the white Commonwealth, but the black Commonwealth can never be overwhelmed."
"Abuja should be the venue where the Commonwealth will meet its death
because of the Zimbabwean issue."
The diplomat said Zimbabwe should not
attend the Meeting even if it receives a last-minute invite as President
Olusegun Obasanjo has "not handled the Zimbabwean issue properly".
"Zimbabwe should not even bother going to Abuja. Other countries will
represent them," said the diplomat.
President Mugabe on Friday said time
might have come for Zimbabwe to leave the Commonwealth if remaining a member
meant losing its sovereignty.
"If our sovereignty is what we have to
lose to be re-admitted into the Commonwealth, well, we will say goodbye to the
Commonwealth and perhaps time has come to say so," said President Mugabe in his
graveside speech at the burial of national hero Cde Norman Zikhali at the
National Heroes Acre.
The President criticised some African countries
saying: "Yet others are apologetic about being nationalists; fear to be
Africans; hesitate to express solidarity with us and dread to play keeper to
another African brother.
"They allow neo-colonialists and
neo-imperialists to drive us to apologise for representing and pursuing our
interests."
Zimbabwe is still to get an invite to Chogm, which is now a
few days away. The country was suspended from the Commonwealth Councils last
year after the presidential elections and was supposed to be re-admitted in
March this year but the Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, is alleged to
have abused his chairmanship to influence the groupingâs secretariat led by Mr
Don McKinnon to extend the suspension. This was despite the fact that two
members of the troika on Zimbabwe, South African President Thabo Mbeki and
President Obasanjo were calling for the re-admission of the country into the
Commonwealth Councils.
Several countries, including Malaysia and Uganda,
and regional and continental groupings have came out in the open calling for the
re-admission of Zimbabwe into the Commonwealth Councils and the invitation of
the country to Chogm.
"We think Zimbabwe has been treated unfairly.
Boycotting the Abuja meeting is an option but I think we should attend the
meeting to kill the Commonwealth once and for all. This is the right opportunity
for the black Commonwealth to do away with this grouping, which other than
reminding us of colonialism is useless.
"The black Commonwealth should
either be thinking of forming a new organisation or joining other progressive
groupings," said one African diplomat.
Zambian leader Mr Levy Mwanawasa
has said he would attend the Abuja meeting as not doing so would allow those
countries that wished to isolate Zimbabwe to "draw up their plans".
One
European diplomat said the British were "killing" the Commonwealth because of
their opposition to the land reform programme in Zimbabwe.
"We have been
following the developments with keen interest and I think the British and their
white Commonwealth friends are to blame for the problems. If the Commonwealth
dies, the British should know that they are to blame."
Another European
diplomat said Nigeria should have gone ahead and invited Zimbabwe to the
Commonwealth because most African countries would see the country as a
"sell-out".
"From what we read, it seems as if the black Commonwealth
really wanted Zimbabwe to be invited and now that this has not happened,
President Obasanjo will lose a lot of respect among many African leaders," said
the diplomat adding that Nigeria could lose the UN Security Council seat if
reforms at the international organisation are implemented. They are plans to
increase the number of countries in the Security Council and from Africa,
Nigeria and South Africa are understood to be vying for the African seat.
"I think the way President Obasanjo has handled the Zimbabwean issue
will make him lose the African vote when the time comes," said the diplomat. The
recent announcement by President Obasanjo that he may hand over former Liberia
leader Charles Taylor for trial could tarnish his image in Africa further.
"Maybe Nigeria is doing all this because it is one of the leading
countries looking for funds to kick-start Nepad, but it looks like this will
backfire one way or the other," said the
diplomat.
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans
l'anarchie"
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