Zimbabwe -- Commonwealth agrees Mugabe must step down by September

Daily News (Zim) ^ | May 31, 2003 | Farai Mutsaka, Chief Reporter

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COMMONWEALTH countries have reached a consensus that President Robert Mugabe should leave office by September this year and his exit worked out as part of efforts to resolve Zimbabwe?s economic and political crises, it was learnt yesterday.

Officials of the club of former British colonies said British Prime Minister Tony Blair has also been advised to call for an aid package for Zimbabwe to be worked out by the G8 countries, which will meet in France next week.

Conditions such as the restoration of democratic governance would be tied to the package, the officials said.

Speaking from the Commonwealth's headquarters at Marlborough House, the officials said members of the organisation, including African countries, had agreed that Mugabe's early exit would save them from having to deal with the Zimbabwe situation at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in December.

"That Mugabe has to go for the Zimbabwean crisis to be resolved is not in question, even among African states. What is left to work out are modalities on how and when he should leave but September has been tossed around as the deadline," a Commonwealth official said.

"He is a very proud man, so the issue at stake now is to work out an honourable way out for him."

It was not possible to secure comment yesterday from the director of the Commonwealth?s communications and public affairs division, Joel Kibazo.

But sources said there was consensus that Mugabe, who faces mounting international and local pressure to leave office, should step down to facilitate a lasting solution to Zimbabwe's crisis.

They said even though the Zimbabwean government was still clinging to the notion of African solidarity, many countries on the continent now considered Mugabe a liability.

One official said: "A good example is what happened in March. When we issued out our statement, we had actually consulted widely in Africa and apart from Nigeria and South Africa, most African nations wanted Zimbabwe to remain suspended while the issue was being discussed.

"It would have been crazy for us not to consult African leaders or to pass a resolution that went against the majority of Africans because that would have split the Commonwealth."

Meanwhile, the officials said advisers to Blair?s government had told the British leader to ask his G8 colleagues to consider an aid package for Zimbabwe.

"It (package) is meant to show the people of Zimbabwe that the Western world is solidly behind them in their struggle. In fact, it is supposed to work as an incentive to push doubting Thomases into action," a source said.

The package, they said, would be similar to that offered by the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, passed by the United States government last year as an incentive for Harare to uphold the principles of good governance.

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