Britain pushes for Zim’s re-admission into the Commonwealth

Zim Now Writer

Britain is leading the push for Zimbabwe’s readmission into the Commonwealth and the country is warming up to it, the European country’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Peter Vowles, has said.

Zimbabwe pulled out of the grouping of former British colonies in 2003 following its suspension by the group over the disputed 2002 presidential elections.

The United Kingdom, Vowles said in an interview recently, was warming up to Zimbabwe, a sign of thawing of hitherto frosty relations between Harare and London.

“It is a new engagement we are doing. A new partnership. We only have five people on our sanctions list. Tine vashanu chete,” he said.

“It’s a positive way of looking at things we have. It’s a new way of looking at our relationships.”

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration has been pushing for Zimbabwe’s readmission under his “friends to all and enemy to none” mantra.

Vowles, However, Vowles could not say whether the UK would fight in Zimbabwe’s corner for the removal of economic sanctions.

Vowles was speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations World Children’s Day commemorations at Malala Primary School in Beitbridge on Thursday.