Frost over the world - Paul Kagame, Rwanda's president
Frost Over the World

Commonwealth conference in Uganda

Rwanda’s president, Uganda’s president, Morgan Tsvangirai and Don McKinnon.

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Sir David Frost

Every week, Sir David Frost, one of the most celebrated broadcasters, offers you a programme which takes its stories and guests from every part of the globe.

 
The world’s news makers will be interviewed with Sir David’s incisive style.
 
Sir David will get behind the headlines and examine the decisions and policies which shape global politics today.
 
 

Coming up this week on Frost over the World:

Michael Frendo
 

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Michael Frendo may become the next
secretary-general of the Commonwealth

Commonwealth heads of state are meeting in Uganda. One of those attending is Michael Frendo, the Maltese foreign minister, who talks to Sir David about Pakistan’s position within the organisation.

Frendo explains that after four hours of deliberation, the Commonwealth decided to suspend Pakistan from participating in ministerial meetings but to allow it to remain in the group.

He tells Sir David: “[Pakistan] could come back as soon as [the country] satisfies the condition that [it has] returned to democracy and the rule of law.”
Frendo also reveals he might become the next secretary-general of the Commonwealth.
 
Yoweri Museveni
 

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Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president, led
the rebellion against Idi Amin for 13 years 

Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s president, tells Sir David how his country has changed since Idi Amin’s coup d’etat in 1971. Museveni led the rebellion against Amin for 13 years.

He talks about opposition groups in Uganda and the country’s relations with the Democratic Republic of Congo and the plans to make it ‘a more peaceful neighbour’ thanks to the Great Lakes agreement, which stipulated that no country is allowed to harbour ‘terrorists’.

However, the president says that if the truce is broken, Uganda would revert to military action again.

 
 
Morgan Tsvangirai
 

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Tsvangirai says he expects the Commonwealth
to keep focusing on the crisis in Zimbabwe

Sir David meets the leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai – fully recovered after being severely beaten by police in March.

He gives his opinion on the radical transformation that Robert Mugabe, the president, underwent after a decade in office, plunging his country into chaos and abject poverty.

Tsvangirai responds to allegations of discords within his own party relayed by Zimbabwe’s state newspapers.
He tells Sir David how he expects the Commonwealth to keep focusing on the Zimbabwean crisis.
 
 
Baroness Lynda Chalker and Baldwin Spencer
 

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Baroness Chalker and Baldwin Spencer talk to
Sir David about climate change 

Climate change features highly on the agendas of many conferences and debates and the meeting of Commonwealth heads of state in Uganda is no different. 

 
Sir David asks Baroness Lynda Chalker, the former UK overseas aid minister, and Baldwin Spencer, Antigua’s prime minister, if there is anything the Commonwealth could do on the issue of climate.
Spencer describes how environmental issues affect the economies of islands that depend on tourism while Baroness Chalker argues that industrialised countries have a responsibility to lessen greenhouse gasses, which prevent the melting of the icecap and create desperate situations such as the one we see in Bangladesh at the moment.

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Rwanda’s president is considering joining the
Commonwealth
Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president, talks to Sir David Frost about how his country is recovering from the genocide that gripped it during the 1990s.
 
The conflict between the Tutsi minority and Hutu majority left 800,000 dead. Last year, a French judge accused Kagame of ordering the attack that ignited the killings.
 
Uneasy relations between France and Rwanda have followed and Kagame reveals that, as a result, he is now considering gaining membership of the Commonwealth.
 
Don McKinnon

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The Commonwealth secretary-general reflects
upon his eight-year mandate

Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth secretary-general, is coming to the end of his eight-year mandate and gives us an overview of what the group has achieved during his term in office.

He explains that his main aim was to keep the Commonwealth “relevant and credible”.
McKinnon also answers Sir David’s question on whether democracy is the best route to prosperity.
 
 
Frost Over The World airs at 18:00GMT every Friday on Al Jazeera English and is repeated during the week.
 
This episode of Frost Over The World aired from November 23, 2007
 

 

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