CHOGM: Asked to wait, Zimbabwe quits

Following this decision, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said in a statement: ‘‘It (Zimbabwe) quits and quits it will be.’’ The statement said Mugabe made the announcement when the presidents of Nigeria, South Africa and Jamaica called him to tell him of the Commonwealth decision.

Commonwealth heads of government had received a recommendation on how to handle Zimbabwe from an ad-hoc six-nation committee comprising the leaders of India, Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Mozambique and South Africa.

A spokesman for Australian PM John Howard said today that the Commonwealth leaders knew that Mugabe would pull Zimbabwe out of the body before deciding to extend its suspension.

‘‘I understand that that was the decision conveyed to the Commonwealth before taking its decision,’’ he said. ‘‘The Commonwealth has taken a stand on principle which is very welcome, but ultimately (withdrawal) is a decision for the Zimbabwe Government,’’ he said.

British officials said yesterday that South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki, another panel member, had strongly opposed Zimbabwe’s continued suspension before being convinced to bow to the Commonwealth’s majority view. Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he regrets Zimbabwe’s decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth, but looked forward to a time after President Robert Mugabe leaves office for the country to rejoin the club of former British colonies.

Mugabe, on the other hand, left Harare today to attend an international information technology conference in Geneva, a day after he pulled his country out of the Commonwealth.

In other developments, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party said Mugabe’s decision to leave the Commonwealth was illegal and urged the world to help bring back democracy to the impoverished nation.

‘‘The decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth was taken without cabinet approval in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and is therefore unlawful,’’ secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Welshman Ncube, said in a statement.

Ncube’s statement said all that ‘‘the international community and the people of Zimbabwe require Mugabe to do is to restore … The right to elect a government of their choice free from intimidation, violence and electoral fraud. Mugabe still wants to play politics at the expense of the people’’.