Hope for Zim’s return to Commonwealth

ABUJA – Nigeria’s president Olusegun Obasanjo, the chairman of the African Union (AU), on Monday expressed hope that Zimbabwe would rejoin the Commonwealth by next year, an official statement said.

Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth because the 2002 presidential elections, which returned Mugabe to power, were deemed unfair. Angry at a Commonwealth decision to prolong the suspension at a Commonwealth Heads of State summit in Nigeria, Mugabe pulled his country out of the club of mainly former British colonies.Since that Commonwealth decision, Obasanjo, a friend of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, has repeatedly spoken out in favour of Harare’s re-admission.Speaking during an audience with outgoing ambassador of Zimbabwe to Nigeria, Kotsho Dube, Obasanjo said that Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Commonwealth had not caused “permanent damage” to relations between the two countries.Obasanjo also said that greater cross-border investment in Africa was crucial to the success of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), an initiative under which African states will work to attract investment, rather than simply aid, from rich countries in return for improving their record in governance, democracy and fighting corruption.One of NEPAD’s central pillars is a peer review mechanism, whereby heads of state closely monitor the activities of their counterparts.- Nampa-AFPAngry at a Commonwealth decision to prolong the suspension at a Commonwealth Heads of State summit in Nigeria, Mugabe pulled his country out of the club of mainly former British colonies.Since that Commonwealth decision, Obasanjo, a friend of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, has repeatedly spoken out in favour of Harare’s re-admission.Speaking during an audience with outgoing ambassador of Zimbabwe to Nigeria, Kotsho Dube, Obasanjo said that Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Commonwealth had not caused “permanent damage” to relations between the two countries.Obasanjo also said that greater cross-border investment in Africa was crucial to the success of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), an initiative under which African states will work to attract investment, rather than simply aid, from rich countries in return for improving their record in governance, democracy and fighting corruption.One of NEPAD’s central pillars is a peer review mechanism, whereby heads of state closely monitor the activities of their counterparts.- Nampa-AFP