Commonwealth rejects Pakistan anger over suspension

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Pakistan angrily rejected its suspension from the Commonwealth on Friday, but leaders of the group of mainly former British colonies said the sanction was justified and would stand until democracy was restored.

A special ministerial group set up to safeguard democratic standards harshly criticized President Pervez Musharraf for his three-week-old state of emergency and suspended Pakistan's membership late on Thursday.

Pakistan is not attending the Commonwealth's Kampala summit but Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told Reuters in Islamabad the decision "is unreasonable and unjustified. Pakistan will review its association and further cooperation with the organisation."

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon told a news conference: "Every country that has been suspended will say we didn't understand the circumstances prevailing in the country at the time ... We think we did."

"This wasn't a desire to heap retribution on Pakistan, this was a determination to live up to our principles."

This view was echoed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who said Pakistan was discussed by Commonwealth leaders when they began the three-day summit on Friday.

"Pakistan has obligations to meet. Pakistan has got to end the state of emergency ... Pakistan is suspended until the point at which free and fair elections take place and all of the conditions are met," he told reporters.

While Commonwealth suspension has few immediate practical effects, analysts say it could further isolate Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in the war against Islamic militancy, discourage foreign investment and undermine him domestically, where he is trying to fend off major opposition challenges.

PROTESTERS BEATEN

As the summit discussed democratic values in Pakistan, police beat demonstrators who tried to march into central Kampala and several were carried away with head wounds, their clothes splashed with blood. One policeman was hurt when the protesters threw stones.

The police said they stopped the protesters when they tried to march out of a suburb where the demonstration was authorized.

The protesters said the Commonwealth had ignored human rights abuses by the government of President Yoweri Museveni, which Western diplomats say ruthlessly suppresses opposition.

The leaders of the 53-member Commonwealth moved to a retreat on Lake Victoria, away from officials and journalists, after a first session in Kampala opened by Queen Elizabeth.

Officials said the summit was working for a consensus on climate change, where there are differences between most of the members and Canada and Australia.

Small island nations in the Commonwealth are threatened by rising water levels and experts say Africa risks being left behind in efforts to combat warming, which could have a disastrous effect on crops on the continent through drought.

Many Commonwealth leaders, led by Britain, want to issue an influential statement before a meeting in Bali next month of world environment ministers to discuss a new global deal on greenhouse gases, replacing the Kyoto protocol.

But diplomats said Canada's conservative government, which believes its commitments under Kyoto are impractical, would resist such a tough statement. Canada is a big oil producer.

A British spokesman told reporters: "There is a broad consensus building within the discussions. We want to see the Canadians and the Australians do what they can to move towards that consensus."

Australia is a major CO2 emitter and has not ratified Kyoto, but its environmental policy could change radically after an election on Saturday which the Labour opposition is tipped to win.

McKinnon said there were still differences on climate "but leaders were saying today we really have to get a concerted view on this with the Bali conference coming up".

(Additional reporting by Tim Cocks, Adrian Croft, Justin Dralaze and Jeremy Clarke; Editing by Charles Dick)