Zimbabwe pulls out of the Commonwealth!

[Roger Rabbit]

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says he is pulling his country out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect.
He said he did not accept the decision by Commonwealth leaders at their summit in Abuja, to maintain Zimbabwe's suspension indefinitely.

Commonwealth spokesman Joel Kibazo told the BBC that Mr Mugabe's decision to withdraw was "very disappointing".

Zimbabwe's fate has dominated the summit and number of leaders are deeply unhappy with the outcome.

Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth last year after an election widely seen as flawed.

Reconciliation demand

Mr Mugabe had earlier threatened to leave the 54-nation group if the country was not "treated as an equal".

Zimbabwe quits and quits it will be

Robert Mugabe
After the Commonwealth decision was taken, he received explanatory phone calls from Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, South African President Thabo Mbeki and Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson.

In response, Mr Mugabe said the decision was unacceptable as Zimbabwe would settle for nothing short of the removal of the suspension.

"Anything that you agreed to on Zimbabwe which is short of this position - no matter how sweetly worded - means Zimbabwe is still the subject of the Commonwealth," he said.

"It is unacceptable. This is it. It [Zimbabwe] quits and quits it will be."

Mr Kibazo, however, said the Commonwealth wanted Zimbabwe to return and would work to continue trying to engage with its government.

Correspondents say Mr Mugabe's move in effect removes any leverage or pressure that Commonwealth leaders could have brought to bear on him.

It also leaves the careful diplomacy of the Abuja summit in tatters.

The summit which has been overshadowed by Zimbabwe from start to finish will come to an end amidst acrimony and division later on Monday, says the BBC's Barnaby Phillips in Abuja.

The Commonwealth had hoped to move on during its final day and discuss other issues, but there will now be further talks about Zimbabwe.

South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia are extremely upset, our correspondent says.

Commonwealth officials and leaders of countries like Britain, Australia and Canada will now have to work extremely hard to restore the organisation's sense of unity.

'Right outcome'

Before Zimbabwe's decision, Mr Obasanjo was given the crucial role of deciding whether Zimbabwe had progressed enough for it to return to the Commonwealth.


Obasanjo (right) had been charged with monitoring Zimbabwe's progress
He said Zimbabwe could probably have returned within "months rather than ... years".

Flying back to London from the summit, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said the Commonwealth decision had been "the right outcome" and that it was important for the Commonwealth to send "a strong signal" to Zimbabwe.

Mr Mugabe had already indicated his response would be to pull out if the Commonwealth decided to maintain his country's suspension.

In a speech at the end of his Zanu-PF party's conference in Masvingo on Saturday, Mr Mugabe had harsh words for the grouping.

Commenting on Zimbabwe's suspension, and his lack of an invitation to the summit in Nigeria, he likened the Commonwealth to characters in George Orwell's novel, Animal Farm, where some members are more equal than others.

Will the Empire strike back? This man has to be removed from power soon before he causes any more damage.

[mocking_loudly_died]

Let the country rot.

I'm a humanitarian.

[Vance]

Let the country rot.

I'm a humanitarian.
You must be from Kenya.

[cut]

Mugabe is a ****.ing ****

[Marxist203]

This puts the Commonwealth in the position to send "Aid" in the form of "Peace Keepers" now. I mean, if the US can invade Iraq because of suspected WMD then the Commonwealth can nail Mugabe for being an evil dictator...the guy has tortured people for just saying they would vote against him and flew Attack helicopters around polling stations to scare people away.

[Haiw]

Yea but his country isn't placed on a giant oil drum so that's not gonna happen...

[Gordon]

As far as i'm concerned we should have sorted out Mugabe a while back, because Zimbabwe is a member of the commonwealth. We shouldn't have that kind of leader of a country in the commonwealth and our government should stand up for it, especially when the government is so happy to commit troops to others wars while a country that has so much historical significance is so readily ignored.

[cut]

Yeah but considering the commonwealth is a just the politically correct name they gave the British Empire, I don't see any commonwealth interventions.

[Marxist203]

Yeah but considering the commonwealth is a just the politically correct name they gave the British Empire, I don't see any commonwealth interventions.

Well...at least they gave it a name. The United states is in possession of numerous "Protectorates" that the majority of your population doesn't even know about it. I bet if you were to walk up to a person in an average city and ask him what country is about to become the 51st state he'd probably answer Canada, but as we all should know its Puerto Rico.

Point is, my nation sets its on foriegn policy, we demonstrated that by staying out of Iraq when the UK went...so its obvious all your talk about the PC term for the British empire is totally bull.

[Fioraon]

f***ing ****? Is that a noun?

[cut]

f***ing ****? Is that a noun?

Naturally, and if it wasn't, it is now.

[Ngati Tumatauenga]

Does anyone know the exact story behind the end of Rhodesia and the start of Zimbabwe?. I know about the sanctions and the warfare but i'm curious as to how exactly Mugabe came to power. I've heard the Soviets, Chinese and other east bloc countries had a hand in it but if thats the case what part did the US and britain play, seeing as this was the height of the cold war.

[Trident-za]

There were two separate terrorists (oops, "liberation") groups during the Rhodesian war - ZIPRA and ZANLA (separated mostly along tribal/ethnic lines). Mugabe was the leader of one of them, the one with the biggest tribal following. So, he basically assumed power.... the role played by the communist bloc was mainly in terms of training, funding and weapons.

The role played by the US and British is a bit more complicated and a bit more controversial, and I don't know the full story behind it.

Mugabe has directly been responsible for the murder of more than 2 million of his own people in the early eighties (members of the Matabele tribe) and indirectly responsible for turning a country once known as the "bread basket of Africa" into a country where hundreds of thousands are literally starving to death (to be fair, the economic ruin of Zimbabwe was influenced by various Western powers and their "suggestions" about developing the economy). He has been more of an evil dictator than Saddam ever was....

[Loco]

Robert Mugabe is a dictator in the style of many others of Africa or other former colonies. Before Robert Mugabe, Zimbawe, perdon, Rhodesia, was ruled by a fascist regime, nobody talked about it here before. Ian Smith it wasn´t a saint nor the people who supported him. Unfortenately, not always are enough luck for having a Mandela as a rival, and when you use strength as the only method of ruling, your probably´ll have you beats back in your own face. I mean Mugabe is evil, but he was the result of a previous evil system. Probably if in the 60´s, when Ian Smith and others founded their repugnant regime, a strong force of british and other commmomwealth´s countries were sent to Rhodesia/Zimbawe to stablish a democracy, a lot of suffering would be evited to the majority of that people and men like Mugabe never would have been ruling a country.
Edited: excuse me, Trident-za, I´m afraid that 2 million people killed in Zimbawe in the 80´s is an excesive cipher, are you sure?

[Trident-za]

Yes, Im sure about the 2 million figure Loco. Ive spoken to people who uncovered some of the mass graves, and where there at the time. The Zimbabwe government did a masterful job of covering it up and keeping journalists away from the scene. And it happened in the early 80's when the rest of the world wasn't too keen on being critical of Mugabe - afterall, he had just got rid of a "repugnant regime".

I can't remember the exact name of the unit responsible for the massacres - it was an Airborne brigade trained by the Chinese. Been trying to find some more info for you

Where are you from, by the way? Kinda curious as to where you get your viewpoints from. Was Smith a saint? No, I doubt it.... did the Rhodesian government do the kind of things that are "standard" for Africa (but excused for various reasons)? I doubt that too. Is the Mugabe regime better for the poor Zimbabwe cilivilans? No, unless you support him of course - then it's all gravy. But, the facts remain.... more black civilians were killed by the Mugabe government in the first 2 years of power than the "repugnant regime" killed in the previous 30 years. The "repugnant regime" presided over the bread basket of Africa, the Mugabe regime is facing hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths through starvation.

Does the above make me a racist? I don't think so. Does it mean I want the "repugnant regime" back? Hardly. I'm a realist though - Mugabe has screwed that country up beyond redemption. There are plenty of very capable black leaders in Zimbabwe who could have made the country great..... its maybe too late now though. Even if democracy was alive in the country, and Mugabe got voted out, its gonna be very difficult to "undo" 23 years of corruption, blind stupidity and a very strong culture of violence and intimidation.

P.S. I agree completely with your comments on Mandela - I only wish he was 20 years younger :( Unfortunately, if he was Mugabe's rival he would be dead or in jail - if you think there is democracy in that country, try visit it. It will be very cheap for you if you from Europe or the US - the Zim$ is currently worth 0.01 South African Rands, and considering it takes R6.30 to buy 1 US$..... well, you do the math.

[Loco]

I´m spanish, Trident-za, pretty far from the south of Africa, it´s true. When I´m began to be interested in policiy affairs and reading newspapers, it was by the time the apartheid finished in Zimbawe, and that country was always in the newspapers or tv-news. I remember Joshua Nkomo(spell?), it was said he was more moderated thant Mugabe, but I´m afraid it´s not a question of being moderated but honest. Yes, the regime of former Rhodesia was repugnant, inherently evil, and being the "bread basket of Africa" I suppose is a good thing only if you´re the owner of the bakery. Being less that a third class citizen, a non-citizen, because your colour and IN YOUR LAND, I think doesn´t need more justification for fighting, and we´re talking of the late XX century, not of the XVIII century.
I don´t know what would be the solution to Zimbawe, of course Mugabe must be stopped of murdering or robbing their own people, white or black, but the question is who has clean hands for doing that job.

[Roger Rabbit]

If this was nationstates then i would be preparing a Army to invade as we speak. I do however think that something should be done to get Muagabe out of power.

[phony doctors. hello!]

Why is it that one evil dictator who tortures, murders and gasses his people gets his beans at the hands of the stormtroopers of freedom [Saddam of course], but another evil dictator [Mugabe], who tortures, murders and starves his people, gets a polite, 'please don't do this, pretty please' note.
Perhaps its because the Commonwealth is as toothless and over saturated with bureacratic do nothings as the UN. Or mabye its the Oil thing again.

[Seiyuuki]

Does Zimbabwe even have any oil?

[Royal]

I can't remember the exact name of the unit responsible for the massacres - it was an Airborne brigade trained by the Chinese. Been trying to find some more info for you


The 5th Bde were responsible for the genocide conducted in Matabeleland :(

[marktigger]

mugabe got into power after the foreign and commonwealth cocked up the free and fair elections in rhodesia. ZIPRA and ZAPU basicaly invaded Rhodesia under the protection of the commonwealth monitoring force. then used their forces to intimidate the locals and make sure the election went their way.

if Zimbabwe is out of the commonwealth can the British army now get rid of all the zimbabweans they've recruited?