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
