The Commonwealth has announced on Monday that Zimbabwe has officially applied to re-join the group following the exit of Robert Mugabe from power.
The former leader of the Southern African country pulled his country out of the Commonwealth in 2003 disparaging how Zimbabwe was suspended over its elections.
Zimbabwe’s new government under President Emmerson Mnangagwa wrote a letter dated May applying to re-join the group.
Secretary-General of the commonwealth, Patricia Scotland said in a statement from London that members of the group “very much look forward to Zimbabwe’s return when the conditions are right.”
“Zimbabwe’s eventual return to the Commonwealth, following a successful membership application, would be a momentous occasion,” she added in the statement.
Meanwhile the commonwealth is hoping this year’s elections in a post Mugabe era would be “a credible, peaceful and inclusive (election) that restores citizens’ confidence, trust and hope in the development and democratic trajectory of their country.”
Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980 under Robert Mugabe but the country under the former president has been at logger heads with its former colonial master.
The Gambia also recently applied and was re-admitted into the commonwealth following the exit of Yahya Jammeh from power in 2017.
Source: Africafeeds.com