Zimbabwe hits out at British cleric

Sep 21, 2007, 9:12 GMT

Harare/Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's information minister Friday hit out at calls by the Archbishop of York to step up punitive measures against President Robert Mugabe's government, accusing the cleric of calling for more suffering for Zimbabweans.

The calls for stiffer sanctions against Zimbabwe by Archbishop John Sentamu were misplaced and unfortunate, Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said in comments carried by the official Herald daily.

'It's unfortunate that the Archbishop of York is on the forefront of calling for sanctions on Zimbabweans,' said Ndlovu.

This shows how the men of cloth are being used to dabble in the country's politics.

On Sunday Sentamu, writing in Britain's Observer newspaper compared Mugabe to the late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and called for sanctions comparable to those imposed on South Africa's former apartheid regime and on Mugabe's predecessor, Ian Smith, prime minister of the then Rhodesia.

The archbishop said regional efforts led by South African president, Thabo Mbeki, to end the social, economic and political crises had failed.

At worst, Mbeki is complicit in his failing to lead the charge against a neighbour who is systematically raping the country he leads, wrote the cleric.

Sentamu called on British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to ratchet up pressure on Harare and to lead an international response to the crisis in the once-prosperous southern African country.

Poverty, unemployment and hunger are on the increase in Zimbabwe, where inflation is over 6,500 per cent and there are chronic shortages of food, power, fuel and medicines.

But Ndlovu said the recent decision by the main opposition party to back amendments to the constitution that will allow joint parliamentary and presidential elections to take place next year showed that Zimbabwe was able to solve its problems together with friendly neighbours.

'It is a clear testimony that we do not need foreigners to help us resolve our differences and to move forward,' said Ndlovu.

He accused the archbishop of trying to create a veil of crisis over Zimbabwe ahead of the imminent UN General Assembly.