The Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting of 2007 is being described as a success. During the three-day summit, the organisation suspended Pakistan from its ranks and produced a climate plan. These are both modest achievements with little international impact except to remind the world that when it comes to human rights and the environment, the Commonwealth can still be a relevant association.
Suspension will not trouble Pakistan
Pakistan's suspension did not stop the country's Supreme Court judges from dismissing the final legal challenge to President Musharraf's re-election bid. No one expected otherwise. The suspension may have embarrassed President Musharraf, but it is not the first time he has had to endure the chastisement. Pakistan was first suspended from the Commonwealth for five years after Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999. The Commonwealth's members may congratulate themselves on upholding the democratic principles of their association, but Pakistan's leadership knows that any condemnation that does not come from Washington warrants little more than the obligatory protest. This is just as well for Musharraf who has more pressing problems to deal with.
Climate plan only symbolic
Although the Commonwealth represents approximately two billion of the world's people, its climate plan is not likely to bring about any immediate impact. The association failed to reach a consensus on emission cuts and the plan is non-binding. That is not a strong statement to the world's worst polluters (U.S. and China) who are not part of the Commonwealth.
Never really in the lime light
Uganda's leadership will congratulate themselves on hosting a successful summit, but they should not exaggerate its legacy for the nation. While Queen toured select venues in the country, much of the international media attention was elsewhere: the political crisis in Pakistan; the upcoming Israel-Palestine summit in Annapolis; and the woes of the falling U.S. dollar.
For Museveni though, this is a personal triumph. He managed to keep the protesters from upstaging him—they managed to make headline news on BBC—and raising some serious questions about his record on human rights. There was also very little mention of the stalled negotiations with the LRA in the north, or the country's tensions with the DRC.
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In all credit to Uganda, the
In all credit to Uganda, the country was extremely hospitable for those of us that were there for the various CHOGM events. While CHOGM may not have raised the media profile of Uganda as Museveni may have hoped, the people of Uganda were fantastic ambassadors of the country and all of us visitors left the country with an extremely positive and favorable view of the country. In that sense, CHOGM was a triumph for Uganda, but only because of the true dedication and hospitality of the people.
Chogm not Uganda's spotlight.
My take on Chogm is that it has outlived its usefulness, this is because of the failure to act decisively on many bad governance issues in the commonwealth. It is shallow for them to think that suspension will make the countries stick to democracy. It didn't work for Zimbabwe ditto Pakistan.
The funny thing is that Chogm was viewed by many people as something that would better their lives. I study in Fort Portal in Western Uganda and Chogm was all he rave there, with poeple ignoring the fact that Chogm has never brought any help to any country that hosts it other than the particular city. I am almost tempted to tell them 'I told you so!'
With the experiment of confining protestors to Kololo proving very sucessful, we should brave ourselves for a situation where every political rally and demonstration will be confined there.
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