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Commonwealth to tread carefully

    JOHANNESBURG

    The secretary-general of the 54-member Commonwealth, Don McKinnon said the grouping would not consider suspending Zimbabwe from its ranks over the current land occupations, news reports said.

    Speaking in New Delhi, India at the group's meeting, McKinnon said it would be inappropriate to treat Zimbabwe as a pariah state before it holds parliamentary elections scheduled for next month. "I don't want to see the Commonwealth become an issue in the domestic elections in Zimbabwe," McKinnon said.

    He said that tensions and problems, even assaults on the rule of law from time to time, do not in themselves warrant suspension. "The threshold for suspension is actually higher than what evidence is in front of us at the present time."

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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