Why Zimbabwe issue dominates Commonwealth meeting?

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Why Zimbabwe issue dominates Commonwealth meeting?

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Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said Monday at his maiden press conference as the chairman of the Commonwealth that undue emphasis was placed on Zimbabwe during the four-day meeting of the organization comprising 54 countries.

"It is unfortunate that the media have paid undue attention to the issue of Zimbabwe as if it was the only issue discussed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)," he said.

Obasanjo appealed to the media to look at other aspects of the Abuja CHOGM whose theme was "Development and Democracy: Partnership for Peace and Progress."

Analysts, while tending to agree with Obasanjo on the apparent skewed emphasis on Zimbabwe, point out that the above theme was broad enough to attract similar attention for other issues.

Other issues discussed which should have taken prominence, theysay, include Africa's new development paradigm -- the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), HIV/AIDS and increased international economic co-operation.

Also worthy of such focus are human trafficking, debt relief and poverty alleviation, among others.

Among the decisions taken was the call for the establishment of multi-lateral trade links among member states which measure would offer "significant benefits to member countries."

In a communique, the leaders equally called on the Commonwealth secretariat to strengthen its technical capacity building programs for its developing member nations.

Such strengthening will enable member-countries to negotiate and implement their obligations within the World Trade Organization system, as well within African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states which are members of the Commonwealth, the communiqu�� said.

Although such "monumental decisions" were reached, there is still the general impression that there was too much focus on a single issue -- Zimbabwe.

Such slant, according to Pat Chikendu, a political science lecturer of the University of Abuja, is understandable given the very theme of the Abuja CHOGM which he says, stress the linkages between democracy and development.

Chikendu said it was apparent that the organizing committee of the meeting had Zimbabwe in mind while choosing the theme.

Apparently reading Obasanjo's mind, the university don recalled the 1991 Commonwealth Declaration in Harare (capital of Zimbabwe) which harped on "just and honest governments that protect the liberty of the individual under the law."

Obasanjo had emphasized in his maiden press conference that the "Harare principles which stipulate compliance with the rule of law, good governance and human rights, were principles which any country would want to live by."

In deed, Zimbabwe was not invited to Abuja CHOGM due to its "failure to abide by the Harare Declarations on good governance, rule of law and human rights."

A crucial question is, however, why only Zimbabwe? As one analyst said, there have been reports of human rights violations in some other Commonwealth countries.

Such analysts give examples of about 400 people detained in India between March and May this year under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. They equally charge that Muslims in India were being held in communicado.

The analysts also said that United Kingdom has been the only European country to derogate from the European convention on human rights, alluding to the imprisonment of 14 people under the anti-terrorism campaign.

According to a political science lecturer at the University of Abuja, who pleaded anonymity, the Zimbabwe issue is smoldering because of two factors -- racism and terrorism.

For him, racism has been the basis of the Zimbabwean imbroglio and British Prime Minister Tony Blair is using CHOGM to further punish President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe "for his doing little in the global battle against terrorism."

As he said, the two issues of racism and terrorism will be a front burner in any forum, hence, the fact that Zimbabwe dominated the Abuja CHOGM.

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