Zimbabwe applies to rejoin Commonwealth

Zimbabwe has applied to rejoin the Commonwealth and has invited the bloc of former British colonies to send observers to its general elections set for this year.

 Robert Mugabe,who was pushed out of office last year, pulled Zimbabwe out of the organisation in 2003 after Harare's membership was suspended following disputed elections held the previous year.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said in a statement on Monday that President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who replaced Mugabe after a de facto army coup in November, made the application on Tuesday May 15,2018

If readmitted, Zimbabwe will become the fifth country to re-join the association - which has 53 member countries - after Gambia, South Africa, Pakistan and Fiji.

The other countries to have quit the organisation are Ireland, which left in 1949, and the Maldives, which exited in 2016. The last country to join was Rwanda, in 2009