Commonwealth leaders tried to close ranks over Zimbabwe on Monday as the threat of further splits in the organisation led politicians from across the spectrum to either criticise Robert Mugabe or insist that the decision to keep his country suspended was just.
Civic leaders in Zimbabwe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change also expressed relief at the Commonwealth’s refusal to cave in to Mugabe.
Welshman Ncube, secretary general of the MDC, said Mugabe’s decision to withdraw was ”clearly not in the interest of Zimbabwe and its people”. He said it was ”an attempt to avoid returning the country to democratic principles”.
While Zambia’s president, Levy Mwanawasa, expressed disappointment at both the decision of the Commonwealth conference and at Mugabe’s retaliatory decision to withdraw, he made it clear that Zimbabwe’s African supporters had no intention of withdrawing from the Commonwealth to protest.
”The western countries bulldozed the suspension of Zimbabwe partly because of their economic muscle,” Mwanawasa said. ”The matter was not handled as well as it should have been, and on this we leave Abuja more divided than when we arrived.”
Mugabe’s decision was announced soon after Commonwealth leaders meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, had extended the country’s suspension for electoral violence and rigging.
The British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, described Mugabe’s angry move as ”entirely in character, sadly” and added: ”I think it’s a decision which he and the Zimbabwean people will come to regret … I look forward to a time when Zimbabwe has a democratic government and is back in the Commonwealth.”
The New Zealand prime minister, Helen Clark, was equally bullish. ”Zimbabwe’s government seems determined to thumb its nose at international opinion,” she said.
Ghanaian president John Kufor pointed out it was unlikely Zimbabwe’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth would be permanent. ”Nigeria was suspended and now we are holding the summit here,” he said.
The South African government refused to comment but African analysts said it was a stinging setback for President Thabo Mbeki’s ”quiet diplomacy” on Zimbabwe. Tom Lodge, political science professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, said: ”Mbeki looks weak and within the Commonwealth he will be taken less seriously.”
Zimbabwe was the one place where people expressed joy at the outcome. ”We are celebrating,” said John Makumbe, coordinator for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. ”We lobbied like mad to keep Zimbabwe suspended and we won.”
The crisis coalition, representing 250 organisations in Zimbabwe, is mounting a court challenge to Mugabe’s action to withdraw. – Guardian Unlimited Â