Zimbabwe suspended for rigging election

 


SubHead:   'Bad decision,' Mugabe camp says

Author:     Robert Fife, Ottawa Bureau Chief

  OTTAWA - The Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe for a year 
yesterday and called for new elections after concluding Robert 
Mugabe had rigged recent presidential elections.

  The punishment by a special Commonwealth committee made up of 
the leaders of Nigeria, South Africa and Australia was tougher 
than many people had expected.

  "They told [Mr. Mugabe] that Zimbabwe was to be suspended. They 
talked about reconciliation and they invited the government to 
take some people in opposition to be part of the government," 
Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, told the House of Commons 
yesterday.

  The suspension from the 54-nation group was described by John 
Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, as being "at the more 
severe end ... of the options available to us" and matches the 
penalties previously imposed on Pakistan and Fiji for not 
observing basic democratic principles.

  "I think it's a result that maintains the Commonwealth's 
credibility," Mr. Howard said. "This issue will be revisited in 
12 months time, having regard to the progress in Zimbabwe."

  Mr. Mugabe has been widely condemned for rigging the election, 
held March 9-11. Within the Commonwealth, Australia, New Zealand 
and Britain led a move to suspend the country, but that was 
resisted by African and Caribbean countries, threatening to 
split the group along racial lines.

  South African observers declared the election legitimate, 
despite contrary opinions from observers sent by the 
Commonwealth and the European Union.

  Thabo Mbeki, the South African President, has been reluctant to 
impose sanctions on Zimbabwe and it is believed Olusegun 
Obasanjo, the Nigerian leader, also had reservations about 
suspension.

  The move is largely a symbolic gesture meant to underscore 
disapproval of the "high level of politically motivated 
violence" that preceded the elections.

  Though Zimbabwe's harshest critics had argued the country should 
be suspended before the elections, African countries, supported 
by Mr. Chretien, took a wait-and-see attitude, setting up the 
three-member committee to make a final determination after the 
election.

  Election observers reported thousands of voters were not given 
the chance to cast ballots in the election, while others were 
intimidated into voting for Mr. Mugabe's governing ZANU-PF 
party.

  In Harare, Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change 
(MDC), whose leader Morgan Tsvangirai had challenged Mr. Mugabe, 
praised the Commonwealth for taking concrete action.

  "We welcome the suspension for the reason that it must be 
regarded as an unambiguous message by the international 
community that the rule of democracy will be upheld in every 
part of the world," said Welshman Ncube, the MDC's 
Secretary-General.

  
Mr. Mugabe's associates said it was a "bad decision."

  Mr. Tsvangirai, who has been charged with treason for allegedly 
plotting to assassinate Mr. Mugabe, offered to hold talks with 
the President in an attempt to end two years of violence.

  "What is critical at the moment is to see how we can restore 
legitimacy on a government that has stolen an election and that 
government must now deal with national questions of drought and 
food shortages," Mr. Tsvangirai said.

  In Canada, the opposition parties were highly critical of the 
Commonwealth, saying it should have suspended Zimbabwe 
indefinitely until Mr. Mugabe holds free and fair elections.

  "This is a slap on the wrist for Mr. Mugabe. The opposition 
members have a loaded gun at their head with Mr. Mugabe's 
fingers on the trigger. The MDC will never accept coming into a 
government that has no legitimacy," said Keith Martin, the 
Canadian Alliance foreign affairs critic.

  Joe Clark, the Conservative leader, said the suspension of 
Zimbabwe is one step in what should be a series of moves to 
restore democracy to the southern African nation.

  "The question now is what other actions are taken to ensure that 
there is a review of the electoral process, perhaps a reversal 
of that process ... and some contribution to civility in 
Zimbabwe," he said.

  Canada froze future project funding to Zimbabwe last May, 
suspended export funding and last week banned Zimbabwe officials 
from visiting, but Mr. Martin said more sanctions should be 
imposed. "This government sat on the fence for months, which 
resulted in many people being killed or tortured that didn't 
need to be. ... For once, Canada needs to lead.

  "Canada must push for punitive action against Mr. Mugabe and his 
band of thugs that have brutalized the people of Zimbabwe, which 
means an indefinite suspension from the Commonwealth, a ban on 
travel for Mugabe's cronies and to freeze their personal 
assets."

  The European Union and the United States have imposed a travel 
ban on 20 senior members of Mr. Mugabe's entourage and frozen 
their assets.

  Mr. Mugabe, 78, led Zimbabwe to independence from Britain in 
1980 and ruled a country that was seen as a great hope for 
prosperity until the last few years, when the economy has 
collapsed.

  Political violence, often aimed at white land owners, followed 
under the ZANU-PF's land reform program. At least 150 people 
have died and tens of thousands left homeless in attacks backed 
by Mr. Mugabe's government. A white farmer who was shot dead 
Monday was the 10th to be killed.



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