Wellington, Oct 07: New Zealand and some other Commonwealth nations will boycott a summit of the group of Britain and its former colonies if Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is invited, Foreign Minister Phil Goff said today. Zimbabwe was suspended from all decision-making councils of the 54-nation Commonwealth group after Mugabe's government was accused of intimidation and vote rigging in the March 2002 presidential elections, which Mugabe narrowly won. The next Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting, known as CHOGM, is scheduled for December in Abuja, the administrative capital of Nigeria. "If he were to be invited there, New Zealand and many other countries most certainly would not be sending their leaders to CHOGM," Goff told National Radio. He did not say which other countries may boycott the summit. "It would threaten the well-being of the Commonwealth for any move to be taken to bring his regime back in," he said.
Goff said it was his "clear understanding" that Nigerian President Olusequn Obasanjo "would not be extending an invitation" to Mugabe to attend the Abuja summit.
Goff also threw his support behind Commonwealth Secretary General Don Mckinnon after reports that African nations are seeking to oust the New Zealander at the end of his four-year term over what they see as his bias against Mugabe's regime.
Bureau Report