ZIMBABWE: The Commonwealth dealt a serious blow to President Robert Mugabe's political future yesterday when it suspended Zimbabwe for one year in protest at his violent re-election as president.
The suspension was due to the "high level of politically motivated violence" and takes "immediate effect", the Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, said after a meeting in London yesterday.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) immediately called for a re-run of the controversial presidential poll.
"This vindicates our position that the elections are stolen and were fraudulent," said the MDC's secretary general Mr Welshman Ncube, who was charged with treason last week.
"It must now be accepted that fresh elections must be held under the auspices of the UN and the Commonwealth," Mr Ncube added.
The international isolation of Mr Mugabe heightened as Switzerland announced it was imposing sanctions and Denmark said it would close its Harare embassy. The EU and the US have already imposed punitive measures.
Mr Mugabe showed few signs of relenting before the storm of international condemnation.
Instead the authorities banned a three-day general strike scheduled to start this morning and briefly detained a senior union leader.
Police officers held ZCTU secretary general Mr Wellington Chibebe for 90 minutes in an apparent effort to persuade him to call off the strike.
In a later statement the police warned that the law would be "fully applied against those who participate \ and orchestrate these illegal activities." However, a ZCTU spokesman insisted the strike was going ahead.
Yesterday's landmark Commonwealth decision came after a three-hour meeting between Mr Howard and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria.
On Monday the two African leaders travelled to Harare to try and persuade Mr Mugabe and his opposition rival, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC, to form a government of national unity.
But the last-ditch diplomacy failed and yesterday the troika agreed with a Commonwealth observer team that the poll "had not allowed for a free expression of the wishes of the electorate". The suspension - which will be reviewed after 12 months - will have little material effect on Zimbabwe but will distance Mr Mugabe from his African neighbours.
Although the 78-year-old autocrat has regularly stressed his contempt for western opinion, he apparently still values affirmation from his fellow African leaders.
Last Sunday's inauguration speech contained numerous appeals for African solidarity against "neo-colonialism", an argument he successfully exploited at the recent, racially charged Commonwealth summit in Australia. But the suspension, agreed to by his erstwhile ally Mr Mbeki, broke the perception of unconditional solidarity among Africa's leadership.
Analyst John Makumbe said: "It says no to bad governance, no to human rights abuses, and no to dictatorial government. It is a very positive decision".