Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth after a summit of the 54-nation body in Nigeria this week decided not to lift the suspension imposed in March 2002 after long-time President Robert Mugabe was reelected in polls widely condemned as fraudulent.
The state media in Harare responded to the dispute by calling on Mugabe to cut all ties with Britain and Australia, which played a leading role in foiling efforts by African Commonwealth members to lift Zimbabwe's suspension.
"The time has come for Zimbabwe to fully engage Britain head-on by cutting all diplomatic ties with the former colonial master and its sidekick Australia," wrote the Herald newspaper, considered a government mouthpiece.
Howard was untroubled by the threat.
"If it's in response to Australia's principled stance at the Commonwealth conference, then certainly not," Howard said.
"I don't know whether it will come to that, but frankly we did the right thing and so did the Commonwealth," he said.
Howard rejected accusations from Mugabe that "white" members of the Commonwealth imposed their will on the grouping, made up mostly of former British colonies.
"This is not a black versus white issue," he said. "This is a rorted (corrupt) election versus democracy issue, and that's why we took the stance that we did," he said - Sapa-AFP
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