AU told to get tough on Zim

2008-04-22 22:48

Johannesburg - Tougher negotiating measures from the African Union and the United Nations were necessary to resolve the impasse in Zimbabwe, the SA Council of Churches (SACC) said on Tuesday.

"The South African Church leaders will also be calling - through the church organisations in Africa and southern Africa - for tougher negotiating measures from the AU and the UN in order to produce a speedy settlement to the apparent political stalemate in Zimbabwe," the SACC said.

The SACC also called on political and religious leaders in southern Africa to be "on full alert" for the Chinese ship, the An Yue Jiang, bearing weapons for Zimbabwe's Zanu-PF government.

The ship, carrying rounds of bullets used in AK47 assault rifles, rocket propelled grenades as well as mortar bombs and tubes docked in Durban on April 14.

It, however, left on April 18 after the Durban High Court ordered that its controversial cargo could not be transported across South Africa to Zimbabwe.

Fears of 'genocide'

The tense political situation in Zimbabwe has been described as a "crisis" since its March 29 election results have yet to be released, a ploy, the Zimbabwean opposition claims, by President Robert Mugabe to hang onto power and resist a change in government.

Chair of the SACC leaders' forum, Bishop Ivan Abrahams, also expressed their gratitude to the Anglican Bishop of Natal, Reverend Rubin Phillips, and other civil and religious activists after they sought the interdict to prevent the ship's cargo from being offloaded in Durban.

Church leaders in Zimbabwe also warned on Tuesday that rising violence could reach genocide levels in that country, according to the Agence France Presse.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and church leaders called for outside help to end the unrest, the report said.

- SAPA