Washington DC — The Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Don McKinnon, currently visiting the United States, has been holding talks in various world capitals in advance of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, to be held in Coolum, Australia in March. The Commonwealth is an international body that gradually emerged out of the United Kingdom's imperialist past. Formerly known as the British Commonwealth, the group encompasses 54 developed and developing nations that once were Britain's global empire and today represent 30% of the world's population.
While in Washington, McKinnon discussed the issue of debt relief with officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He also held talks with several Bush administration officials on terrorism and the current crisis in Zimbabwe. In an interview with allAfrica.com, the Secretary General said that, despite President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reforms and election policies, the Commonwealth is not in a position to bar him from attending the Australia meeting.
Q: The United States is not part of the Commonwealth but you're here in Washington DC and you have had talks with Bush administration officials. What did you tell them?
A: The United States is of course not part of the Commonwealth, but Washington DC is an important city, being the base for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. We do a lot of work with the World Bank on a number of projects around the world and of course the influence of the IMF on a number of Commonwealth countries is considerable.
There is also the issue of terrorism which is very much still dominating the world. I had a very good discussion with Vice-President Dick Cheney this afternoon, talking about the kind of things that we in the Commonwealth are doing and about the commitment by the Commonwealth's fifty four leaders to a very strong statement related to terrorism - the fact that we don't believe that Commonwealth states should harbour terrorists. And of course we have a Commonwealth Foreign Ministers meeting [at the end of January] to advance the discussion on terrorism.
Q: Let's talk about your discussions at the IMF. Are there any specific areas that you tackled with regard to Commonwealth countries in Africa?
A: The biggest one of course is debt relief. You'll be aware that the Commonwealth was in the forefront of starting this whole programme on debt relief about five years ago. We believe debt relief for a lot of African countries is very important. One of our last Finance Ministers meetings called for the speeding up of the process and for reducing the conditions required prior to debt relief.
The talks I had with the IMF Managing Director, Horst Kohler, suggest that he also understood these problems of conditionality. He also was very much aware, of course, that there is not the amount of funds to write off debt that they had hoped for, but they'll continue to persevere. So the Commonwealth is certainly on side with those nations that have done their very best to not only change their their economies, but can no longer move forward until they get substantial debt relief.
Q: You are launching a Commonwealth fund for Africa. What is the fund about and how does it fit in with what you have discussed with the IMF?
A: This is a fund which will be somewhat similar to our previous Commonwealth Fund for Africa and which we hope will be launched pretty soon this year, with the help of the World Bank, to make credit available to business people within the African region who need support. The shortage of capital is quite considerable. On the other hand, finding projects that suit our donors is a major exercise as well. But I think if we can get this fund off the ground, with the help of those in the subsidiaries of the World Bank, I believe we can see some promising opportunities for entrepreneurs in Africa.
Q: If we may talk in terms of specific countries, who will benefit from this fund?
A: We have to say that the parameters of this fund will be the nineteen Commonwealth countries in the Africa region. It will not extend to those outside the Commonwealth.
Q: There is a Commonwealth country that is currently in the political as well as economic limelight and that is Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe's land redistribution and election policies are causing a lot of concern in a lot of places. You know President Robert Mugabe on a personal level. Can you provide a little insight into the way he sees this whole situation. What is his mindset at this particular point in his country's history?
A: Well, I am not a psycho-analyst and I am not a psychiatrist. I am really a politician. There are a lot of very sad things occurring in Zimbabwe at the present time, not the least of which are the incredible food shortages that are emerging in a country which was really self-sustainable in food for a very long time, and exported a lot of food. Commwealth ministers have expressed their concern on numerous occasions about a number of activities in that country. I certainly communicated to President Mugabe the concerns of other countries about a lot of other activities going on there at the present time. We obviously want to see a change. Commonwealth ministers will be meeting again on this issue at the end of January.
In the meantime, I do expect the Commonwealth will be invited to provide observers for the elections in March and also, of course, we would like to have people there on the ground fairly soon to enable them to assist with the whole process of leading up to elections. But we do remain concerned about a number of those issues that have been dealt with by the legislature in recent times and certainly have conveyed those concerns to the appropriate people.
Q: What was President Mugabe's reaction when you communicated those concerns to him?
A: That's something I can't talk about; you have to talk to President Mugabe about that. My job is to ensure that he is fully aware of the concerns of other Commonwealth countries and leaders, particularly, of course, African leaders who are, by and large, concerned about what's happening there.
Q: So in the build-up to the Commonwealth summit in Australia, do you think President Mugabe will press you to accommodate him, or is the Commonwealth likely to press him in the direction of change?
A: I would not want to prejudge any decision that will be taken by the Commonwealth foreign ministers when they meet at the end of January. But, by and large, the Commonwealth doesn't have the capacity to say: "You shall not come". The Commonwealth is an extraordinarily diverse, widely spread, very accommodating grouping of countries, some fifty-four countries, and at times they have had to accommodate those they have had other views on. But certainly at this stage, Zimbabwe will be represented at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.
Q: Even after that statement by General Vitalis Zvinavashe, that the army, of which President Mugabe is Commander-in-Chief, will only support leaders who fought in the liberation war against white rule?
A: That is of concern, because it does have a bearing on our active encouragement to have a free and fair election, and of course it's not considered a free and fair election if there are threats from an element of the Zimbabwe government apparatus towards what could be a political party that could take power. What we want to see is the kind of election that can take place freely in other parts of the world, where people can freely declare what they want to happen without being intimidated by statements by such generals that to do so would endanger either that particular party or support for it.
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Q: So what is the Commonwealth going to do about it? What means do you have at your disposal to bring pressure to bear on Mugabe, whether we're talking about the election or land reforms?
A: We really are actively encouraging other courses of action in a number of fields. For example, on the land redistribution programme, we certainly believe that the involvement of the United Nations and ourselves could make that whole process a lot easier and a lot more acceptable and sustainable. But at the end of the day, we do not have any batallions. We do not have the authority to mount a series of sanctions against Zimbabwe. It is really only the moral authority of the Commonwealth, backed by the other fifty-three members who expect a higher level of standards on something like this.
Q: Did the issue of Zimbabwe come up in your discussions with the Bush administration?
A: I discussed a lot of things with a lot of people all in different parts of the administration, and I wouldn't wish to go into details, but certainly the subject of Zimbabwe has come up.
Q: Does that mean combined pressure could be expected from the Bush administration and the Commonwealth?
A: There is already a lot of pressure, but whether it is having the appropriate response is a judgement yet to be made. After all, there has been a lot of critical comment about what's happening in Zimbabwe by a lot of the African leaders, apart from the European Union, the United States and leaders from different parts of the Commonwealth. A lot has been said, but the question is more if there has been an appropriate response? The answer to that is probably negative.
