From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Thu Aug 22 2002 - 14:27:53 MDT
<q>
Treat Zim with vigour - Mbeki
Pretoria - President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday said he agreed with
Australian Prime Minister John Howard that the Commonwealth had to
address the situation in Zimbabwe with vigour.
Receiving the credentials of new ambassadors in Pretoria, he told
incoming Australian High Commissioner Ian Wilcock that he would visit
his country soon.
"I intend discussing with the Prime Minister... the challenges facing
the Commonwealth. I agree with Howard that the troika of the
Commonwealth needs to address vigorously the present state of affairs in
Zimbabwe."
Howard heads a Commonwealth troika - which also includes Mbeki and
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo - tasked with taking action on
Zimbabwe following controversial elections held in March.
The Australian Prime Minister earlier acknowledged that Zimbabwe had
already stretched the patience of Commonwealth countries, and had shown
no contrition since being suspended from the group.
"Australia is very unhappy, and I think most Commonwealth countries are
very unhappy, with the lack of responsiveness by the Mugabe government
to the Commonwealth's reasonable expectations," he said, according to
Deutsche Presse Agentur.
On Wednesday, however, he said diplomacy should be given a last chance
before further sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe for its recent
undemocratic behaviour.
"I've indicated before that there are some diplomatic moves in process
at the present time," Howard told reporters.
</q>
[Blunderov]
And we all know how Mbeki loathes the naked thrust of action.
(In what is widely regarded as a refreshing departure from the normal
usage of the term, a South African observer delegation to Zim found that
the recent elections there were "free and fair".)
I find it hard to believe that this is not just more prevarication.
Warm regards.
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