Blair: Commonwealth faces credibility test on sanctions
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Tony Blair said yesterday that the Commonwealth would lose all credibility if it refused to suspend Zimbabwe if elections were rigged this weekend.
The Prime Minister told MPs that he believed the Commonwealth would act if its observers reported that the elections were "rife with violence and intimidation ... I am sure they will do, given the evidence that is emerging." In a statement on this week's Commonwealth summit in Australia, the Prime Minister launched a strong attack on the Mugabe regime, accusing it of "political intransigence and corruption".
He said: "This is a tragedy for all Zimbabwe's people. The victims of President Mugabe are not primarily white, they are the ordinary black citizens fed up with years of decline and corruption."
Mr Blair accused Mr Mugabe of using the issue of land reform as "nothing more than a pretext" to stay in power. "The violence and intimidation unleashed by President Mugabe in his desperation to prevent an opposition victory is totally unacceptable," he said. It was a remarkable tribute to the strength of democracy in Zimbabwe that the opposition retained even a chance of winning the elections.
"If they do win, President Mugabe must accept the result and hand over power." Mr Blair regretted the refusal to suspend Zimbabwe but warned: "If the observers' report does indeed find widespread evidence of intimidation and violence, the fudging will have to stop. The credibility of the Commonwealth itself is at stake."
Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the fact that respected, independent journalists, including British ones, were being thrown out of the country was in itself "an admission of guilt".
But the Prime Minister's strategy came under fire from the Opposition, which argued that he had delayed for too long attempts to build support among Commonwealth countries for immediate action against Zimbabwe.
Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative leader, said the outcome of the summit was "weak and ineffectual" and the policy of the Government and the Commonwealth "now read like a textbook on how not to deal with a tyrant".
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