Monday, 15 May 2018, Harare, Republic of Zimbabwe: The latter country has applied to re-join the Commonwealth of Nations after the country withdrew its membership 15 years ago under former President Robert Mugabe.
Commonwealth Secretary-General, Baroness Patricia Scotland, announced in a statement that Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa had submitted a application for the country to return to the 53-member group of mostly British former colonies.
To rejoin, Zimbabwe must go through an assessment followed by consultations with other members states, which must agree to its membership.
Zimbabwe was first suspended from the Commonwealth in 2002 on the grounds that Mugabe, who had ruled the country since independence in 1980, rigged his re-election in 2002 and persecuted his opponents.
Mugabe was ousted last November following a military coup d’état, and impending impeachment ending his 37-year rule over the country.
The Commonwealth Secretariat shall dispatch observers to monitor the country’s elections in July 2018, following an invitation from the Zimbabwean government as part of the process to rejoin the international organisation.
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