Tutu fasts for Zimbabwe

2009-01-11 14:44

Johannesburg - South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu has called on all South Africans to join his weekly fasting in protest at the humanitarian crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe, the 702 radio station reported on Sunday.

The 78-year-old Anglican archbishop said he had been fasting once a week in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans facing food shortages and a cholera outbreak.

"If we would have more people saying 'I will fast' maybe one day a week, just to identify myself with my sisters and brothers in Zimbabwe," the radio station quoted him as saying.

Zimbabweans are suffering from hyper-inflation and severe food, fuel and foreign currency shortages. Cholera has killed more than 1 800 people.

- Reuters