Posted on 02/10/2003 11:45:26 AM PST by Clive
South Africa and Nigeria have cancelled a key meeting to review Zimbabwe's year-long suspension from the Commonwealth, Australia's Prime Minister says. It is unclear if the move means the 54-member body will allow Harare to be readmitted next month.
Australia, South Africa and Nigeria make up the "troika" assigned by the Commonwealth to deal with the Zimbabwean government of Robert Mugabe, which remains been isolated over its questionable elections last year and its human-rights abuses, such as the widespread seizure of white-owned farms.
The leaders of the "troika" countries were to meet next month to decide whether to extend Zimbabwe's year-long suspension imposed last March — but Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his two African counterparts have already called off the talks.
"They didn't agree with me that further measures should be taken against Zimbabwe, and I deduced from that discussion that they would not be unhappy if Zimbabwe were readmitted. Now whether they will argue strongly for that, I don't know," Mr. Howard said, according to Radio Australia.
The Australian Prime Minister, who was in Washington, D.C., on Monday, said South African President Thabo Mbeki told him by phone over the weekend that the meeting was off.
Australia has pushed hard for sanctions against Harare, and Mr. Howard made it clear that Australia would lobby other Commonwealth leaders to have the suspension extended until December, when the body is to meet in Nigeria.
"If anything, the situation appears to have deteriorated, and I certainly wouldn't be supporting any notion that Zimbabwe should be re-admitted to full membership," Mr. Howard said.
After a meeting in London last March, the troika agreed to suspend Harare for 12 months after observers criticized the elections that saw Mr. Mugabe re-elected for his fifth term as president. The troika also agreed to meet again to determine whether the suspension should be renewed.
In Pretoria, a spokesman for Mr. Mbeki told wire services that talks between the troika members on Zimbabwe were still continuing and that South Africa was disappointed that Mr. Howard chose to speak out.
The debate over Zimbabwe has split the Commonwealth along racial lines, with many African countries urging a less confrontational approach.
Meanwhile, the country's economy has remained in turmoil, with farm confiscations and violence exacerbating a drought that has left as much as half the population of 14 million threatened by starvation.
Zimbabwean politics have also gripped the sporting world, as England's cricket team ponders whether to skip a match scheduled for Harare later this week in the sport's world cup. The England Cricket Board has asked organizers to move the game, and English players have complained of receiving death threats.
On Monday, two Zimbabwean cricketers took to the pitch for their match against Namibia wearing black armbands, protesting against what they said was the "death of democracy" in their country.
Officials have banned political signs from the stands, and there were reports that police disrupted a small protest in Harare's financial district, about two kilometres from where the game was taking place.
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