'Undiplomatic' for a diplomat

News24 (SA) ^ | December 11, 2003

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Sydney - Zimbabwe's ambassador to Australia was hauled before foreign affairs officials on Thursday to explain why she accused Prime Minister John Howard of acting like a dictator in the row over the African nation's exclusion from the Commonwealth, officials said.

Zimbabwean High Commissioner Florence Chitauro was unrepentant about the remarks after the meeting in Canberra, saying she was defending President Robert Mugabe.

"I said I'm here to protect the head of state I represent and the country," she told ABC radio. "The president of Zimbabwe has been called all sorts of names, and I am here to make sure that I take a position."

Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth after a summit of the 54-nation body in Nigeria this week decided not to lift the suspension imposed in March 2002 after Mugabe was re-elected in polls widely condemned as fraudulent.

Chitauro told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper that Howard had dictatorially imposed his views about Zimbabwe on a Commonwealth troika reviewing the suspension that he sat on with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and South African President Thabo Mbeki.

A foreign affairs spokesperson said Chitauro had been asked to explain the "inaccurate" remarks.

After the meeting, Chitauro accused the Australian government of taking a hardline stance on Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth.

"We have no problem with Australia in general but we are just wondering why it's taking this rigid position," she said.

Howard brushed aside reports Zimbabwe was considering breaking off diplomatic relations with Australia because of his leading role in its suspension.

The state media in Harare responded to the dispute by calling on Mugabe to cut all ties with Britain and Australia, which played a leading role in foiling efforts by African Commonwealth members to lift Zimbabwe's suspension.

"The time has come for Zimbabwe to fully engage Britain head-on by cutting all diplomatic ties with the former colonial master and its sidekick Australia," wrote the Herald newspaper, considered a government mouthpiece.

Howard was untroubled by the threat, saying Australia had acted correctly.

"If it's in response to Australia's principled stance at the Commonwealth conference, then certainly not," Howard said.

"I don't know whether it will come to that, but frankly we did the right thing and so did the Commonwealth," he said.

Howard rejected accusations from Mugabe that "white" members of the Commonwealth imposed their will on the grouping, made up mostly of former British colonies.

"This is not a black versus white issue," he said. "This is a rorted (corrupt) election versus democracy issue, and that's why we took the stance that we did," he said.

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