WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2003-12-07 Posted By: Jan
From the News Archives of: WWW.AfricanCrisis.Org
Date & Time Posted: 12/7/2003 3:07:27 PM
Mugabe: Commonwealth hijacked by Racists
[Note. When there is no other logical option then play the race card. Jan]
President Robert Mugabe will pull Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth unless the 54-nation body backs down today on its suspension of his country.
Mugabe told delegates at the end of the ruling Zanu-PF’s two-day annual conference: “If we say we are doing this, we will do it. We never retreat.”
He accused the Commonwealth, which is meeting in Nigeria without Zimbabwe, of having been hijacked by racists who were interfering in his country’s internal affairs.
Zimbabwe was suspended in March 2002 and barred from attending this week’s meeting.
A panel of Commonwealth leaders met for two hours yesterday in an effort to break the impasse over Mugabe’s exclusion, which has dominated the summit’s opening sessions.
The group – South Africa, Mozambique, Canada, Australia, India and Jamaica – was expected to deliver its recommendations on “re-engaging with Zimbabwe” today.
But according to a resolution adopted at the Zanu-PF congress, if the group’s plan – which is seen as a compromise to avert a split between African nations and the so-called “white Commonwealth” – did not regard Zimbabwe as an equal member, it had no choice but to withdraw from the Commonwealth.
Zanu-PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira told AFP: “The resolution says we don’t want to be treated as unequals and if we are, then we will leave the Commonwealth. That was the condition and we will see what they say in Abuja.”
Mugabe expressed his delight at the development. “Thank you for that resolution,” he said.
The ultimatum came shortly after the Commonwealth endorsed a second term as secretary-general for an arch-critic of Mugabe, New Zealander Don McKinnon. Efforts led by President Thabo Mbeki to replace him with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar were rejected by 40 votes to 11. The vote was seen as a strong indication that efforts to have Zimbabwe readmitted to the Commonwealth would fail.
McKinnon later urged Mugabe not to compound his country’s isolation by withdrawing. “I would hope that Mugabe would . . . realise that the Commonwealth meeting here really does want to move on on Zimbabwe.”
He insisted that leaders wanted to re-engage with Harare. “There’s a lot more to gain from being inside the Commonwealth than outside it.”
He also dismissed allegations that Commonwealth membership was irrelevant to Zimbabwe, recalling that last month Mugabe had expressed hopes of being invited to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Zimbabwe was suspended in March last year following the country’s controversial presidential election, marred by violence. McKinnon stressed that any reconciliation between the Commonwealth and Mugabe had to begin with reconciliation between Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
But on Friday, Mugabe dismissed any possibility of talks with the MDC. He also used the occasion to launch another attack on Britain’s Tony Blair and threatened to unleash “legal force and violence” against his political opponents. He added: “If the choice was for us to lose sovereignty, or be a member of the Commonwealth, let the Commonwealth go. It is just a club, and there are many other clubs.”
Mugabe also defended his bloody “land reform” programme, which led to the deaths of scores of black farm workers, several white farm owners and the impoverishment of the countryside. “Our people are overjoyed, the land is ours,” he said.
Source: The Sunday Times, South Africa.
URL: http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/12/07/news/…br>