President Thabo Mbeki has accepted Nigeria’s decision not to invite Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to this year’s Commonwealth summit, the presidency said on Wednesday.
Spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said Mbeki was among those consulted by Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo before he opted to exclude Mugabe.
Khumalo would not reveal whether or not Mbeki supported the move, but said: ”The president accepts Mr Obasanjo’s decision.”
Reports that Mbeki had insisted on Mugabe’s presence at the summit in Abuja were unfounded, Khumalo said.
”It is up to Nigeria to decide whether or not to invite Mr Mugabe. We have all along been saying that this was their prerogative.”
Obasanjo reportedly confirmed this week Mugabe would be excluded.
He was quoted as saying: ”I believe there should be a big change in Zimbabwe for an invitation to be sent.”
This followed an announcement last month by Australia’s Prime Minister, John Howard, and Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon that Mugabe would not be invited.
Howard is current chairperson of the Commonwealth, which consists mostly of former British colonies.
A Commonwealth troika — comprising Howard, Obasanjo and Mbeki — suspended Zimbabwe last year from the 54-nation body’s councils for 12 months.
This was prompted by a damning Commonwealth report on the controversial Zimbabwean presidential elections that returned Mugabe to power.
When the initial 12-month period ended in March this year, the organisation announced Zimbabwe’s suspension would remain in place until December.
Mbeki and Obasanjo opposed the move, arguing that the political, economic and social climate in Zimbabwe was improving.
Last month, Khumalo said South Africa did not regard the extension of further sanctions against Zimbabwe as valid.
”Our view is that the Commonwealth imposed the maximum penalty on Zimbabwe by suspending it for one year in March last year,” he said.
”There is no reason for the continued exclusion of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth.”
On Wednesday, Khumalo said Mugabe’s absence from the December summit would not affect Mbeki’s plans to attend.
”There is no question of the president boycotting the event. That notion is a dead duck. He will be there with the other Commonwealth leaders to engage the issues,” Khumalo said. — Sapa