South Africa warned Australia against using ”megaphone diplomacy” on Zimbabwe on Tuesday as a row escalated over allowing Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to attend this year’s Commonwealth summit in Nigeria.
Australia has thwarted moves by South Africa and other African nations to relax Zimbabwe’s 18-month-old suspension from the Commonwealth so Mugabe can attend the meeting in December.
Bheki Khumalo, a spokesperson for South African President Thabo Mbeki, said there was nothing to be gained from barring Mugabe’s attendance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
”We want to appeal to the Australians to understand that megaphone diplomacy will not produce results,” Khumalo said.
”I mean sanctions have been imposed against Zimbabwe now for a number of months with no result at all, and we don’t think that using megaphone diplomacy will work.”
Khumalo urged the Commonwealth to reverse its decision.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the 54-nation body in March last year over its poor human rights record and Mugabe’s re-election in a vote widely condemned as rigged.
When the initial 12-month period ended in March this year, the body announced that the Southern African country’s suspension would remain in place until December.
Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun Obasanjo, are the two African representatives on a troika chaired by Australia and tasked with overseeing the Commonwealth’s response to alleged human rights violations in Zimbabwe. Both opposed extension of the sanctions. — Sapa-AP