Uganda prayer campaign

from the Daily Monitor (Uganda).

Our beloved country Uganda is weeping, grieving for the innocent lives of countless people - including children - who have needlessly lost their lives at the hands of wicked people in pursuit of selfish ambition and money. There is greed, corruption, and an inhuman thirst to spill innocent blood.

This cry is so loud, that we the church – regardless of denomination – are together declaring a nationwide campaign against this evil of witchcraft and human sacrifice. We are unequivocal in our strong condemnation of this depraved practice, which not only defiles the sanctity of human life, but also reveals the extent to which the core of our society is degenerating owing to greed, godlessness, and moral corruption.

Brothers and sisters, this must stop. We the church, have a burden to repent and renounce the greed, corruption, and selfish ambition that plague our nation, and which have precipitated the evil of human sacrifice by those who practice witchcraft and mistakenly regard it as a means to quick wealth.

For non Africans, the letter is referring to what Africans call "witchcraft" (not the same as African religion or treatment by traditional healers who often are called "witchdoctors" by clueless Europeans).

It is similar to Santara and other AfroCaribbean/Afro Brazilian cults that sacrifice animals to get something, usually power, money, success, or love.

But in this case, they are sacrificing humans to get something. When I worked in Liberia, about once a month a mutilated body would be found, and it was assumed that some rich man was building a store and was burying the genitals or heart in the foundation so it would succeed.

Another aspect is the use of body parts to cure HIV: even the NYTimes has had articles about albino killings to get this medicine.

In Uganda, the "Lord's army" group routinely kidnaps children and uses witchcraft ceremonies to make the children killers.

And it was rumored that Idi Amin protected himself against coups and assasinations by witchcraft: but that he was overthrown when Tanzania's president sent in troops that had a ceremony to protect them from Amin's witchcraft.

The only reason I bring this up is that I wonder how much Mugabe is "western" and just a greedy dictator and how much his power is due to his use of witchcraft. The HIV crisis has caused a revival of use of illicit means to cure HIV...

As for westerners saying, oh those superstitious Africans, could I remind you that Hitler used witchcraft, including occult ceremonies for his SS...

and that in the US alone a million mothers kill their unborn children for financial or social reasons?

Anglican primates call for Mugabe Resignation

From the Zimbabwe Mail:

CAIRO - Leaders of the worldwide Anglican Church have called for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to resign and for the church to send an envoy to the embattled southern African country to show solidarity with its people.

Citing Mugabe's "total disregard for life ... through systematic kidnap, torture and the killing of Zimbabwean people" the 38 primates -- the heads of each of the church's provinces -- meeting in the Egyptian city of Alexandria said the long-time ruler should resign....

What the Anglican bishops said

From VirtueOnLine:



Four archbishops of the Anglican Communion disagree on how to deal with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe who has brought his nation to the brink of total collapse economically and politically.

At a press conference today, South African Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said he has tried to impress on Anglican Primates here the urgency of the situation and the humanitarian needs of the people.

"The people of Zimbabwe have spoken loud and clear in 2008. Mugabe is holding on to power illegitimately and needs to step down. A Cholera epidemic is ravaging the people of Zimbabwe. I am in pain that military intervention will cause our people to be affected."

A statement released here noted "with horror the appalling difficulties" in Zimbabwe under the current regime. Anglicans in Zimbabwe's Diocese of Harare continue to face ongoing harassment and violence from Mugabe's police force attempting to stop them from worshipping. Renegade Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, an avid Mugabe supporter, still claims ownership of the Anglican churches despite being officially excommunicated in May 2008.

In their statement, the primates say that they do not recognize Kunonga as a bishop within the Anglican Communion, and call for "the full restoration of Anglican property within Zimbabwe to the Church of the Province of Central Africa." Kunonga was replaced in December 2007 by Bishop Sebastian Bakare, who is supported by the majority of the country's Anglicans.

Both Archbishop Thabo and Albert Chama, Bishop of Zambia and Dean of the Province of Central Africa, a leading contender to succeed Archbishop Bernard Malango, say they are opposed to using force to get rid of Mugabe and called for massive prayer and divine intervention for the situation to change. "Sanctions might work. We respect the sanctity of life. We want to take the position of wait and see and see military intervention as a very last resort."

However, two other archbishops, Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu and York Archbishop John Sentamu, both believe that military intervention is the way to go. They have called for the military ouster of President Mugabe. In an article published by "The Guardian" newspaper, the Archbishop of York called for military intervention by the "international community" to topple President Mugabe.

Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu labeled Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a "Frankenstein" and called for other countries to intervene before the country descends into bloodshed. The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, urged international intervention to curb the violence and harassment leading up to a runoff vote in Zimbabwe.

Archbishop Rowan Williams has called for the primates to appoint a representative to go to Zimbabwe "to exercise a ministry of presence and to show solidarity with the Zimbabwean people."

The primates also urged action to deal with the humanitarian crisis and for the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury to facilitate ways in which "food and other material aid for Zimbabwe can be distributed through the dioceses of the Church of the Province of Central Africa."

Asked by reporters if they could get an inkling about talks on the Windsor Continuation Group, Australia Archbishop Philip Aspinall said that Archbishop Rowan Williams had expressly asked that primates refrain from talking (read leaking) the report until he addresses it on Thursday.

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said there have been a variety of responses to the report, and that she wishes to honor Williams' request not to discuss the contents publicly...

most headlines on this sounded like the bishops were united against Mugabe...as you can see, they aren't, and the American bishopess won't even take a stand,which is bad news...
As for their emphasis on prayer> we Pinoys know that prayer works best when the bishop is in front of the people en mass defying the dictator...

Jan 25 a day of prayer for Zimbabwe

from Zimdiaspora.com

The All Africa Conference of Churches declared January 25 to be a day of prayer and fasting for the land of Zimbabwe and has asked Christians around the world to partner in seeking God's face on behalf of this country.
...

Mugabe and the churches

".....at least in his younger days, Mugabe’s “mentor had been the Catholic Church.” Yet in his twenty-seven years of dictatorial rule, Mugabe has shorn himself of anything his religious upbringing might have instilled. His genocide in the 1980s against members of the minority Ndebele tribe; his politically induced starvation of opponents; and the arrest, torture, and sometimes outright murder of those who speak out against his rule have all demonstrated a wanton disregard for what the Church—particularly the Church in Zimbabwe—has taught its flock....

To many African leaders, Mugabe is seen as a hero of the struggle against European dominance of the continent. But, in the end, the Zimbabwe of Robert Mugabe remains remarkably similar to its predecessor, the Rhodesia of Ian Smith. The white authoritarian tyranny of Smith relied on distinct forms of prejudice, and so does the black kleptocratic tyranny of Mugabe—both abjectly refusing to recognize the inviolable rights of man.

Against Smith’s Rhodesia, the Catholic bishops took a stand, declaring that law based on race prejudice was “utterly to be condemned . . . ...

And now, against Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, the Catholic Church has taken another stand, led by Mugabe’s most outspoken foe, Pius Ncube, the archbishop of Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, Bulawayo.

While Mugabe maims and starves, Ncube stands as the heroic voice of his countrymen. He has repeatedly called Mugabe evil and compared him to Pol Pot. His phones are tapped, he is monitored by state security around the clock, and government agents have twice raided the home of his elderly mother. ....

The problem of Zimbabwe—the ideology of liberation-hero worship, demanded by the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)—is common in Africa. It is the woeful norm across the continent, where organizations that fought for independence from colonial rule view themselves as now having the right to rule in perpetuity....

the rest of the essay is found at link

Thousands arrested as Mugabe warns about prices

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has warned businesses to comply with a controversial price freeze, after his security forces arrested more than 7,000 people for violating the new policy over the past few weeks.

"Some (businesses) are resisting saying they will not supply goods and services, but we say you will," state media quoted him on Monday as telling a conference in Malaysia....

Mugabe was among several leaders from Southeast Asia and Africa taking part in the Langkawi International Dialogue, aimed at fostering closer ties between the two regions.

Back home, there was no economic relief in sight for Zimbabweans also struggling with widespread poverty and 80 percent unemployment amid an eight-year depression.

Mugabe accuses Britain and other Western nations of sabotaging Zimbabwe's economy over his decision to seize thousands of white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks.

Church leaders have urged Mugabe to embrace democratic reforms. One of his key supporters, Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga, was quoted on Monday in The Herald as criticising fellow clergy for pressing political reforms.

Kunonga said it was the clergy's "sacred mission and God-given opportunity to help people reject all Western forms, designs, plots, tactics and strategies to drag us back into a state of boyhood and baboonhood."

Christian pastors harassed

"...

Zimbabwe (MNN/SVM) --

Three pastors were arrested in Masvingo in Zimbabwe by the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) on Sunday, June 10, for distributing toys and candy to children.

Rev. Sonykis Chimbuya, Pastor Peter Bondai, and Pastor Mugondi were detained and questioned by state security agents.

According to Salem Voice Ministries, in a bizarre case highlighting deep levels of paranoia in government, the agents of the Central Intelligence Organization accused the pastors of distributing campaign material for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which is Zimbabwe's biggest opposition party.

Pastor Peter Bondai and Mugondi were released after they were interrogated for more than three hours, while Pastor Chimbuya was kidnapped and dumped along the Masvingo-Great Zimbabwe highway hours after his arrest.

"We are living in constant fear after the harassment at the hands of the CIO agents," Rev. Sonykis Chimbuya to SVIM news.

"They just came to us and picked us one after the other. They asked us about the material we were distributing to various church organizations," they reported.

"One of us was kidnapped and was only released after they had proved beyond doubt that the items we were distributing were in fact toys," They added.

The CIO agents also demanded that the pastors write down their sermons and present them to the secret agents before delivery.

State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa could not be reached for comment on the matter.

President Robert Mugabe last month warned church leaders to steer clear of politics after Catholic bishops denounced the Zimbabwean government over its human rights record."

Church leaders questioned about prayer meeting

Two church leaders from the Christian Alliance were questioned by police on Thursday in connection with a prayer meeting that is scheduled for Bulawayo on Saturday. This will be the second time in just over a month that the group, under the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, will attempt to hold a prayer meeting. Useni Sibanda, the National Coordinator of the Alliance said: “As I speak to you right now, two of our leaders have been called in by police for questioning and that is Pastor Ray Motsi and Pastor Patson Nheta because the Christian Alliance is the one that is coordinating the meeting.”

He said the police also threatened the priest in charge of St Patrick’s Catholic Church, the venue of the meeting, and ordered him to call off the meeting. But the group said the prayer meeting would go ahead despite the harassment by the police.

This Catholic Church is in the diocese of the outspoken cleric Archbishop Pius Ncube, who is expected to lead the sermon. Speakers will also include opposition leaders: Morgan Tsvangirai & Arthur Mutambara, National Constitutional Assembly Chairperson, Dr Lovemore Madhuku; Zimbabwe National Students Union President Promise Mkwananzi; the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and several Bishops from South Africa who are coming in solidarity.

The regime has been using its muscle, through draconian security laws like the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), to clampdown on pro-democracy groups. When asked if the Church had notified the police Pastor Sibanda responded by saying: “There is no law in Zimbabwe which requires us to do that because literally this is a religious meeting convened by bonafied religious organisations. There is no need for us to ask for police permission to do that.”
Last month armed riot police blocked a similar meeting in Harare and severely assaulted political and civic leaders. The Save Zimbabwe Campaign is a coalition of pro-democracy groups - including political parties, students, civic society and Churches.
Pastor Sibanda said this time they had decided to hold the prayer meeting in a Church to avoid a repeat of what happened on March 11th....

He said they want people to come and pray for an end to the crisis and the suffering of the people in Zimbabwe. The Church is increasingly speaking out against the injustices in Zimbabwe. Just last week, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference wrote a highly critical message on the crisis in Zimbabwe, in a pastoral letter for Easter. ...