|
Tutu likens Zim to apartheid SA
25/09/2007 16:19 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu appealed for peace in Zimbabwe, issuing a statement on Tuesday likening the actions of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government to those of the repressive apartheid regime.
Tutu said he was devastated and horrified by reports of the "ongoing economic meltdown, the joblessness, the hunger - and the misery caused by HIV/Aids in the midst of a collapsing health care sector."
Zimbabwe is in the grip of its worst economic and political crisis since independence from Britain in 1980. The country is suffering shortages of meat and basic foods and has the world's highest official inflation - nearly 7 000%. An ongoing crackdown on political opposition has seen leaders and activists harassed, arrested and beaten.
Tutu said reports from churches and other organisations showed that human rights violations in Zimbabwe were on the increase.
"The stories we are hearing of the harassment of political opponents, detentions without trial, torture and the denial of medical attention are reminiscent of our experiences at the hands of apartheid police. It must stop now," he said.
'Blight' on the continent
Tutu said the suffering of Zimbabweans was a "blight" on the region and the continent.
"Zimbabwe's plight is all of our plight. To ignore its suffering is to condone it," he said.
Tutu, the 75-year-old retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, won the Nobel Prize in 1984 for his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle, and continues to speak out against injustice at home and abroad.
Mugabe's fellow African leaders have been accused of doing too little to pressure Mugabe, one of the continent's oldest post-liberation leaders. In a recent interview, Tutu urged the international community to take a firmer approach to Zimbabwe.
"By now it ought to be clear that the softly softly approach - quiet diplomacy - has not worked at all and we want something a little more forthright, a little more categorical," Tutu told ITV News.
However, last week Zimbabwean parliamentarians voted for a constitutional amendment in an agreement that was hailed as a sign of progress following the intervention of President Thabo Mbeki, who is leading talks between the government and opposition to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.
|
News
