Tide begins to turn against Mugabe's rule

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Tsvangirai takes tough stance on Mugabe talks

Day of drama ends with Zimbabwe's suspension

After months of dithering and division along racial lines, the Commonwealth decided yesterday to suspend Zimbabwe's membership for a year.

The country's presidential election was declared to be an inadequate reflection of the will of the people and marred by politically motivated violence. The unexpected decision was taken by a "troika" of Commonwealth leaders who were nominated by the Commonwealth heads of government when they met in Australia earlier this month.

The three ­ the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, the President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, and the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, met at Commonwealth headquarters in London yesterday to consider the Commonwealth observers' report on the Zimbabwe election.

The three had been mandated to pronounce on the conduct of the election and to formulate the Commonwealth's response. In their statement, they said the observer group had "concluded the presidential election was marred by a high level of politically motivated violence" and "the conditions in Zimbabwe did not adequately allow for a free expression of will by the electors".

In what appeared to be a careful compromise, the troika decided against imposing sanctions and agreed to try to foster reconciliation between the re-elected President, Robert Mugabe, and the opposition.

The suspension from the councils of the Commonwealth means that no Zimbabwe government representative will be allowed to attend any meeting of the 54-nation organisation for the next year.

While suspension may not greatly affect Mr Mugabe or his running of Zimbabwe, it sends an unambiguous message about acceptable standards of democracy and government that the Commonwealth had been reluctant to send before.

Most observers had thought the Commonwealth would continue to "fudge" the issues for fear of deepening the black-white split that was so evident at the summit in Australia.

The decision was welcomed by Tony Blair, who telephoned Mr Mbeki earlier in the day. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, who led calls for Zimbabwe to be suspended from the Commonwealth before the election, said: "The Commonwealth has today spoken with one voice. The message could not be clearer."

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, welcomed it as a "credible decision" that should prove to President Mugabe his "wayward" behaviour was unacceptable in the eyes of the world.

Mr Tsvangirai said he was surprised by the decision because when he met President Mbeki and President Obasanjo in Harare the two leaders had not shown any willingness to take tougher action.

He said: "They appeared to prefer a situation whereby Mugabe would be given more time to discuss unity with us while suspension from the Commonwealth was deferred."

But political unrest still looms in Zimbabwe. Police detained a trade union leader yesterday ahead of a three-day national strike that the government declared illegal.

The youth wing of Zimbabwe's opposition, meanwhile, plans to foment a Yugoslav-style popular revolt to topple Mr Mugabe unless he agrees to a transitional government to organise new elections. Nelson Chamisa, MDC national youth chairman, said the party's young members believed engaging Mr Mugabe was a waste of time because he was a "crook with a proven record".

He said: "The youths who can't get jobs and are suffering are even calling for unorthodox means to remove Mugabe but, as a party, we have said we can't do that. We will only use constitutional means to remove him." He said that would involve demonstrations and street protests.

In a further setback for Mr Mugabe, Switzerland announced it was freezing the financial assets of Zimbabwean government officials.

Speaking for the troika, Mr Howard said efforts to bring about reconciliation, initiated by Nigeria and South Africa, would continue and yesterday's statement said the Commonwealth considered "reconciliation essential to address the issues of food shortages, economic recovery, the restoration of political stability, the rule of law and the conduct of future elections".

The three Commonwealth leaders issued a call to the international community "to respond to the desperate situation currently in Zimbabwe, especially the shortages of food". Mr Howard said Australia was making additional funds available to Zimbabwe in humanitarian aid.