ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe looked increasingly isolated yesterday as his party gathered in the shadow of a Commonwealth ban and efforts to expel Harare from the International Monetary Fund.
Far from the pomp and ceremony of the Commonwealth summit in Abuja, to be opened today by Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Mr Mugabe arrived for his ZANU-PF party conference yesterday amid talk Zimbabwe may decide to quit the 54-member body.
Cheering crowds afforded some consolation to 79-year-old Mr Mugabe, a figure ever more alone on the international stage. The International Monetary Fund announced on Wednesday it had begun steps to expel Zimbabwe, saying state policies had failed to address effectively the economic woes of the country, which has been in arrears to the IMF since 2001.
ZANU-PF is meeting in the south of the country at Masvingo, best known for the stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe on its outskirts - relics of an ancient trading civilisation that gave its name to the independent modern state.
Mr Mugabe accuses "white racists" within the Commonwealth, a grouping of mainly ex-British colonies, of pursuing a vendetta against him for giving white-owned farm land to landless blacks.
"I think there is going to be a resolution that if the Commonwealth is going to be an organisation where there is no respect for national sovereignty, where a small group of white racists are going to be allowed to dictate their wishes on everybody, then Zimbabwe must not be part of that Commonwealth," said one senior official who declined to be identified.
"There is a very strong opinion now that Zimbabwe must look at membership in other organisations where the principle of mutual respect and equality of nations and races is respected, not just in word but in deed," the official said.
Britain and Australia hope to extend Zimbabwe's suspension, putting them on a collision course with countries such as Zambia, which want to reinstate the country to the Commonwealth.