Australia can’t ban Mugabe from CHOGM

Australia could not bar Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe from attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), in spite of mounting protests from politicians and Zimbabwean exiles, AFP reported on Tuesday.

The agency quoted Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as saying that while he understood the anger about the situation in Zimbabwe, Australia was obliged to accept every CHOGM leader at the three-day conference which starts in Brisbane on 6 October. “The only circumstances where a host of a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting would ban someone visiting would be if the country was expelled from the Commonwealth,” Downer said. “Otherwise you’re really obliged to have every leader come to Australia.”

Government MPs Peter Slipper and Paul Neville had called for Mugabe to be banned from attending CHOGM because of violence in Zimbabwe against white farmers, the report said, adding that hundreds of white farmers had been forced to flee their properties. Harassment and the intimidation of voters, the courts, farm workers and farm owners had been a Commonwealth concern for some time, he was quoted as saying.

According to the report, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he did not agree with Slipper’s call to ban Mugabe because the Commonwealth leaders could make a difference to the way a nation was ruled. So far the leaders of 49 of the 52 eligible Commonwealth nations, including Zimbabwe, have accepted invitations to CHOGM. Opposition leader Kim Beazley was quoted as saying that Mugabe should be allowed to attend so his failings could be addressed by leaders at CHOGM.