Mauritius will not host 2015 Commonwealth meet

Mauritius will not host the next Commonwealth summit in 2015 as planned because of its boycott of this weekend’s meeting in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Navin Chandra Ramgoolam told British television.

Rangoolam on Friday defended his decision not to attend the heads of government meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo, saying there was ‘total lack of accountability’ about human rights abuses during the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict.

But he said a consequence of his boycott was that Mauritius would no longer hold the next CHOGM in two years. ‘The tradition is that the head of government who wants to host the next CHOGM should be present in the country which is actually holding the CHOGM summit,’ Rangoolam told Channel 4 news.