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Commonwealth
chief says Zimbabwe wanted isolation
Adrian Croft, Reuters
March 10, 2008
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN056053.html
Commonwealth Secretary-General
Don McKinnon likened Zimbabwe on Monday to North Korea or Myanmar,
saying the southern African country wanted to be isolated.
McKinnon, who steps down
next month after eight years at the helm of the 53-nation group
of mostly ex-British colonies, said the Commonwealth had done all
it could over Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe left the Commonwealth in 2003 and calls the organisation
a stooge of British neo-imperialism. He is standing for re-election
on March 29, accused by rivals of wrecking Zimbabwe's economy.
The United Nations, the
World Bank, Britain and the United States had also done all they
could over Zimbabwe, McKinnon said. "Everyone was limited by
what Zimbabwe did or did not want to do," he told reporters
at an event marking Commonwealth Day.
"Regretfully, Zimbabwe,
for many countries, has pushed themselves into this situation not
dissimilar to Myanmar or North Korea where they just want to be
isolated," he said.
North Korea agreed last
year to dismantle its nuclear programme in exchange for aid and
steps to end its isolation. Myanmar's military rulers remain cut
off from the West.
New Zealander McKinnon,
who hands over on April 1 to Indian diplomat Kamalesh Sharma, said
he believed significant change in Zimbabwe could only come from
within. He did not know when it would happen.
"The world could
not change North Korea until recently, the world has not been able
to change Myanmar. Sometimes a sovereign state can just stand out
against this sort of thing for a long, long time and that is very
unfortunate," he said.
McKinnon said the Southern
African Development Community was probably the most influential
group that could achieve change in Zimbabwe.
But he said South African
President Thabo Mbeki, who mediated between Mugabe's government
and the opposition at the urging of SADC countries, "has put
his reputation on the line, seven, eight, 10 times since 2000 and
regretfully has to admit that nothing has actually changed."
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