April 21, 2008

British churches condemn 'violence and intimidation' in Zimbabwe

Leaders of Britain’s Methodist and United Reformed churches have jointly voiced concern at increasing violence and political intimidation in Zimbabwe, said to be linked to a delay in announcing presidential election results.

“The Zimbabwe Election Commission owes it to the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe to announce the presidential result without further delay to enable the people to begin the urgent task of rebuilding their shattered lives and economy,” said the Rev. Stephen Orchard, Moderator of the general assembly of the United Reformed Church, in a statement on April 21 released by the two denominations.

“We condemn the campaign of violence and intimidation that has been embarked upon by members of the ruling party, following the announcement of the parliamentary election results,” said Mr Orchard.

Zimbabweans voted on March 29 in presidential, parliamentary and local elections.

The Zimbabwe electoral commission has announced parliamentary results that show President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party won fewer seats than the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party.

Following delays by the electoral commission in announcing the presidential results, the MDC published its own results from figures collected at polling stations and declared its leader Morgan Tsvangirai to be the winner.

Zimbabwe has come under pressure from the United Nations, the European Union and individual countries such as France and Britain to release the presidential results.

The Rev. David Deeks, general secretary of the Methodist Church in Britain, said, “The people of Zimbabwe appear to have voted for change and the leaders of the southern African states bear a huge responsibility to ensure that the will of the people is respected.”

In Harare, various faith-based groups have held prayers to prevent post-election tensions from degenerating into anarchy.

Groups such as the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe held separate prayer meetings in the past week, as reports of post-election violence in outlying provinces mounted.

“It’s our petition to God the Almighty at this stage for him to offer the nation of Zimbabwe divine intervention in order to avert conflict in this period after the elections,” the evangelical fellowship said in a statement.

Martin Revis, ENI