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London - Zimbabwe has isolated itself from the international community to the extent that it now can be compared to Myanmar or North Korea, the outgoing secretary-general of the Commonwealth said on Monday. "Zimbabwe has pushed themselves into this situation not dissimilar to Myanmar and North Korea, that is isolation. That's not good," Don McKinnon told reporters.Reflecting on his dealings with Zimbabwe during his time as the Commonwealth's most senior diplomat, McKinnon, who steps down on April 1, said they had exhausted all avenues of diplomacy."We did all we could in relation to Zimbabwe, but so did the UN, so did the UK and USA," he added. President Robert Mugabe took Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth in 2003, after the 53-nation body of mainly former British colonies announced plans to extend the country's suspension following flawed presidential polls.Evil organisation
Mugabe has since dismissed the Commonwealth as an "evil organisation", a front for British efforts to "enslave" his country, and vowed that Zimbabwe would never return.He also denounced McKinnon as "a progeny of criminal descent" whose ancestors had been deported by the British "because they were robbers and murderers ".McKinnon is from New Zealand and previously served as foreign minister.He said on Monday:"I believe that significant change in Zimbabwe can only come from within Zimbabwe. I don't know when it's going to happen."The Southern African Development Community (SADC) were best placed to achieve movement, he added.But President Thabo Mbeki "has had to admit that nothing has actually changed" in the last eight years, he added.
Support political reconciliation
Elsewhere, McKinnon warned that the international community had to maintain its support for political reconciliation in member state Kenya after the factional violence that followed disputed presidential polls.Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan brokered a power-sharing deal, which was signed on February 28.But McKinnon warned:"If we all walk away and think Kofi Annan has solved the whole problem, it will not last."McKinnon also commented on Pakistan, whose Commonwealth membership was suspended last year after President Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule.The organisation should only consider lifting the suspension once a new government was in place, he said.Pakistan's possible return to the fold will be high on the agenda for the incoming secretary-general Kamalesh Sharma, an experienced career diplomat who is the first Indian to hold the post.
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