Zimbabwe quits Commonwealth

last updated 8 January 2015

Harare, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has announced he is pulling his country out of the British Commonwealth. At a meeting in Nigeria this week, the 54-member group comprising Britain and most of its former colonies refused to lift its suspension of Zimbabwe, imposed last year after Mugabe rigged his re-election and had his political opponents beaten up. Furious, the authoritarian ruler said the Commonwealth’s criticism of his country was racist. He said Zimbabwe is being punished for its policy of seizing white-owned farms and giving the land to blacks. The land-reform policy has plunged the country into famine and economic ruin.