Subjects: Zimbabwe; war against terrorism
E&OE...........
SECRETARY OF STATE:
Prime Minister, I';m delighted to welcome you to the Foreign Office and I';d like to offer you and Presidents Mbeki and Obasanjo our deepest appreciation for the most important and very significant decision which you took yesterday on behalf of the Commonwealth to secure the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Councils of the Commonwealth for the next year. And, in the hope that in that year there is a period of reconciliation that takes place.
I have to say that you will know the news this morning of the further detention of Morgan Tsvangirai on these treason charges suggests that this message has still yet to get across. But I';m also very clear from all the manoeuverings which Mugabe and his people have gone in for, for the last year, to try to avoid at all costs an adverse decision of the Commonwealth underlines the fact that they have been worried from the start about isolation from the councils of the Commonwealth. Particularly isolation of the kind that the presidents and yourself secured yesterday, which is isolation from the multi-racial, multi-national Commonwealth. What we also saw yesterday and, above all, was the fact that the principles of the Commonwealth, paradoxically enshrined in those Harare declarations of ten years ago, are universal principles which apply across every continent of the world, without qualification, and that the Commonwealth is going to stand by those principles.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you very much, Mr Foreign Secretary. I';m delighted to call on you at this famous building and to say how pleased I am, as is the British Government, at the outcome of the discussions yesterday. We had a very clear mandate from the Commonwealth meeting in Coolum and the wood was on us to do the right thing, and I believe the three members of the troika did the right thing. We looked at that report. That report was unambiguous in relation to the flawed, undemocratic character of the election that was carried out in Zimbabwe. And, if you applied the Harare principles and the Millbrook action plan, one really had no alternative other than to reach the decision we did.
I';m disturbed about the news concerning the opposition leader in Zimbabwe. To my way of thinking, and I think to the way of thinking of the whole Commonwealth, any notion of prosecution of the opposition leader in Zimbabwe is quite inimical to the prospects of national reconciliation. I would hope that wiser, saner, more intelligent counsel prevails and that the influence that I do know that the President of South Africa and the President of Nigeria have on the government, the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe, will be brought to bear.
But certainly, an unmistakable message, in your own words, Mr Foreign Secretary, was sent yesterday. It';s a significant message and the messengers, if I may presume to say so, were significant because they represented different elements of the Commonwealth. And I might say, based on the messages that I had received and I know the Secretary General had received, and which had been conveyed separately to President Mbeki and President Obasanjo, that they were left in no doubt as to the feelings of other people within the Commonwealth.
So it was an important test for the Commonwealth and it passed that test and passed it well. And that';s good because the moral authority of the Commonwealth, which was so important in bringing about change in South Africa, in Nigeria, in Fiji and, I hope also in countries like Pakistan, that that moral authority has been maintained and that';s very important.
SECRETARY OF STATE:
Thank you very much, any questions please?
QUESTION:
Was it actually only possible to achieve a deal because Britain threatened to withdraw its support for Mr Mbeki';s cherished programme, NEPAD?
PRIME MINISTER:
The question of any discussions between the British government and the South African government are a matter for the British government to talk about. But I wouldn';t…. the atmospheric to me at that meeting yesterday didn';t suggest for a moment that South Africa was acting under pressure. I find that quite extraordinary. The Foreign Secretary will speak for his own government but Mbeki to me yesterday was not a man acting under pressure, far from it.
SECRETARY OF STATE:
The government is completely committed to the action programme for development in Africa, NEPAD, and no threats were uttered. It would have been preposterous if they had been and I think the last person to respond to any such pressure, unacceptable pressure, would have been President Mbeki.
QUESTION:
Mr Foreign Secretary, the United Kingdom has announced an increase to your contribution to the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. In your talks today would you like to see Australia increasing our contribution?
SECRETARY OF STATE:
That';s entirely a matter for the Australian government. Thank you for the question.
QUESTION:
Is that something you will be discussing. Would you consider a request to increase our contribution on the ground?
PRIME MINISTER:
We don';t have a request to increase our contribution. We gave early and significant help to the war against terrorism in Afghanistan. I';m certain that one of the issues that the Foreign Secretary and I will talk about is Afghanistan and it will also be an issue that the Prime Minister and I talk about later today. We are already making a very big contribution given our size and given our other commitments in places like East Timor.
QUESTION:
Could I ask for a response from both of you as well. Do you have concerns about the suggestions that the war may expand into countries like Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, speaking for Australia, I can accept the view, which I know the Americans hold and I know that many others hold, that a successful prosecution of the military operation in Afghanistan does not of itself represent the completion of the war against terrorism. The idea that terrorism and its sources are only to be found in Afghanistan is a complete misreading of the situation. As to Australian involvement in any other operation, that doesn';t follow automatically from the fact that we';re involved in Afghanistan.
What we would do if we received a request from the United States in relation to activity elsewhere, we would consider that request against the background of its merits and our determination to stand with the Americans in the fight against terrorism and the long and close relationship that exists between our two countries.
SECRETARY OF STATE:
Our approach is very similar to that. At the risk of being boringly repetitious, we made it very clear that no decisions whatever have been made in respect of any military action outside the Afghanistan theatre. As to Iraq, the crucial thing for Iraq to do now is to undertake its clear obligations imposed on them by nine separate United Nations Security Council resolutions and, in particular, to re-admit weapons inspectors without restriction. Just two or three more questions, if there are any.
QUESTION:
Mr Straw, Mr Howard, a question for both of you. Whilst you might be friends at war so to speak, in court today you';re enemies over the question of pensions. How much does this blight the relationship between the two countries and when do you think Britain might sort it out?
SECRETARY OF STATE:
May I just say, because the matter is before the courts, I can';t comment on it for reasons that I hope everybody understands, but it doesn';t in any sense blight the relationship. It';s an issue which needs to be resolved between us.
PRIME MINISTER:
He';s a very discreetly spoken Foreign Secretary.
SECRETARY OF STATE:
And a lawyer and a former Home Secretary too.
PRIME MINISTER:
So he';s got every base covered.
SECRETARY OF STATE:
Who was in court everyday, yes.
QUESTION:
A question for the Foreign Secretary. How far do you feel that this is a personal vindication of the stand that you took before the Commonwealth summit on calling for the suspension of Zimbabwe?
SECRETARY OF STATE:
It';s for others to judge whether the strategy, which the United Kingdom government has followed, has worked out. But I personally, I wouldn';t use that phrase because it';s a decision by the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth as a whole. And, whilst I was a member of a body called the Commonwealth Ministers Action Group before Coolum, that baton was passed very appropriately to the three senior heads of government, two heads of state, which met yesterday.
But I';m not in much doubt myself that the decisions which were arrived at yesterday could not have been arrived at in that environment unless Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, some of the West Indies countries, and the United Kingdom had come together ten months ago to set in train what became the Abuja negotiations to which we all devoted a great deal of time and effort, which, for the first time, multilateralised the issue of Zimbabwe and land reform, and made it clear to the world that the Commonwealth as a whole, and in particular the United Kingdom as the former colonial quote master there, accepted our responsibility and its responsibility for land reform in Zimbabwe but within the context of the rule of law and the Harare principles.
And one of the many tragedies about Zimbabwe is that the Abuja negotiations agreed by Zimbabwe themselves were there for Mugabe to pick up. We have put money on the table. So have the rest of the international community. We';d also made it clear that the trigger for the money was not us but the United Nations and, if that had been taken by Mugabe, then Zimbabwe would now be on a far more prosperous and peaceful path back to the kind of economic success and human rights success that it was enjoying in the past. One last question.
QUESTION:
What are the next practical steps in relation to Zimbabwe for Australia and the rest of the Commonwealth? What actually happens now?
PRIME MINISTER:
The most important things in the immediate future are to get on with whatever steps can be taken to bring about a greater internal reconciliation between the different political groups within the country. And there';s a big role there for Nigeria and South Africa. The Secretary General will now engage with the government, particularly in relation to implementation of the electoral reforms that were recommended in the observer group report.
It';s important to note that one of the clauses in our declaration yesterday said that we supported the implementation of all of those changes and it';s our view, and I think the view of most people, that, unless you have those changes made, the next election in Zimbabwe will run the risk of being as bad as the last one and will run the risk of having no greater credibility than did the last one.
Nobody should forget that we adopted the language of the observer group report and, in adopting its language, we shared its judgement. And part of that language and part of that judgement was that the law had to be changed. Now, that process will start. We';ll see how it gets on. It';s not going to be easy but what we did yesterday was to send a message from the rest of the Commonwealth and, I think, the rest of the democratic world, that Zimbabwe has been playing out of bounds as far as democratic practise is concerned for a very long time and that has got to change. Thank you.
SECRETARY OF STATE:
Thank you very much.
[ends]