Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Churches fear Zim genocide

from the BBC:

Church leaders in Zimbabwe have called for international action to prevent post-election violence developing into genocidal proportions.

African countries and the UN should intervene to deal with a "deteriorating" situation, they said....

In a joint statement, leaders of the main religious denominations warned against leaving the post-election deadlock unresolved.

Mr Tsvangirai also renewed his criticism of South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been acting as a mediator over Zimbabwe.

"We call on President Mbeki to be bold and take this historic opportunity to side with the people of Zimbabwe and not with any political party," he said.

The leader of the governing African National Congress in South Africa - Jacob Zuma - has further distanced himself from Mr Mbeki, criticising the delays in publishing the election results.

"It's not acceptable. It's not helping the Zimbabwean people who have gone out to... elect the kind of party and presidential candidate they want, exercising their constitutional right," he told Reuters news agency.

Post-election violence has displaced 3,000 people, injured 500 and left 10 dead, according to MDC secretary general Tendai Biti.

Human rights groups say they have found camps where people are being tortured for having voted "the wrong way".

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