Zimbabwe will not attend this year’s Commonwealth summit even if other African nations want to invite their neighbour, a spokesperson for the 54-nation body said in Brunei on Wednesday.
Joel Kibazo told reporters Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Commonwealth had ruled it out from being invited to December’s Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Nigeria.
”All I can say is that the common practice is that those countries that are suspended do not attend [the meeting],” Kibazo said on the sidelines of a Commonwealth finance ministers meeting taking place in the Brunei capital.
”So as far as I know, 52 invitations have gone out.”
Pakistan is the other member nation suspended from the Commonwealth following President Pervez Musharraf’s seizure of power in a bloodless coup three years ago in which he overthrew the elected government of Nawaz Sharif.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth in March last year over its poor human rights record and President Robert Mugabe’s re-election in a vote that was widely condemned as rigged.
When the initial 12-month suspension ended in March this year, the Commonwealth announced the Southern African country’s suspension would remain in place until December.
But South African President Thabo Mbeki has been pushing for Zimbabwe to be allowed to attend to the summit, and Nigeria has indicated it may issue an invitation.
Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun Obasanjo, sit on a troika chaired by Australian Prime Minister John Howard tasked with overseeing the Commonwealth’s response to the alleged human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
But Kibazo said Nigeria must observe the practices of the Commonwealth even if its bilateral relationship with Zimbabwe differed with the policies of the group.
”Put it this way, you must separate a bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Zimbabwe … all countries have their own relationships,” Kibazo said.
”But if you are talking about in the context of the Commonwealth, then Nigeria is going to abide by the practice of the Commonwealth.”
Australia has been leading the campaign to ensure Zimbabwe does not attend the Nigerian summit. — Sapa-AFP
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