Abuja, Dec 08: Australia today defended the Commonwealth's decision to extend the suspension of Zimbabwe, even though the body's leaders made the choice knowing President Robert Mugabe would pull his country out altogether. "I think it is always dreadful when a country decides to go but the decision the commonwealth took yesterday was the only decision, the only decision, consistent with Commonwealth standards," Australian Prime Minister John Howard told reporters here.
Mugabe announced his country's withdrawal late yesterday after the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Abuja chose to extend Zimbabwe's suspension indefinitely and set up a committee to review its progress to democracy.
Howard said there was no reason why Zimbabwe, which was suspended in March 2002 after Mugabe was re-elected in a ballot marred by violence and vote-rigging, could not rejoin the Commonwealth in the future.
"The people are suffering greatly and their welfare and what is needed to improve their welfare should be our dominant concern," he said.
Australia, one of six countries named to a panel set up to monitor Zimbabwe alongside Commonwealth Chairman President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, is one of the most outspoken in its criticism of Zimbabwe.
Bureau Report