Commonwealth meeting set to pave way for readmission

A meeting of a Commonwealth committee on Zimbabwe, which is set to host a roundtable discussion in South Africa next week, could pave the way for the possible readmission of the country into the 54-nation grouping. The group of former British colonies suspended Zimbabwe in 2002 after the widespread violence that characterised, and ultimately cemented, the result of the presidential elections that year. Zimbabwe then quit the grouping in 2003 after then South African President Thabo Mbeki failed to get the suspension lifted.