ZIMBABWE: Anglican bishops want sanctions on country's ruling elite lifted

April 23, 2007 [Ecumenical News International] Anglican bishops in central Africa, unlike their Roman Catholic counterparts who have called for pressure on the Zimbabwe government to be stepped up, are urging the European Union and the United States to scrap sanctions placed on the country's ruling elite.

"We, the bishops, are concerned and pained at the distressing occurrences that have been taking place in Zimbabwe," the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa said in a pastoral letter released on April 19 in Harare. "The deteriorating economy has rendered the ordinary Zimbabwean unable to make ends meet."

The letter was signed by 14 bishops including Nolbert Kunonga, the Anglican bishop of Harare, who is a staunch ally of President Robert Mugabe and his policies and who once referred to the opposition as dogs barking at an elephant. The central African bishops represent Anglican churches in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Kunonga has a long-standing feud with his own church members because of his open support for Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party. He met with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, March 7 to discuss the grave challenges faced by the Church, civil society and the State in Zimbabwe.

The Central African bishops said in their April 19 letter: "These so-called targeted sanctions have affected the poor who have borne the brunt of the sanctions. We, therefore, call upon Western countries to lift the economic sanctions and we further call upon the British government to honor its obligation of paying compensation to white farmers."

Zimbabwe is reeling under an economic meltdown with the official inflation rate above 1,700 percent, high unemployment and the majority of the 13 million population unable to afford to properly feed themselves.

Economists blame the country's woes on mismanagement and rampant corruption by state officials as well as haphazard land reforms which compromised agricultural production after thousands of mainly white commercial farmers were driven off their land.

Mugabe's government blames the crisis on the sanctions imposed on him and his ruling party elite in 2002 following presidential elections whose result was disputed by the opposition and international observers. The sanctions include travel restrictions on Mugabe, senior members of his ruling Zanu-PF party and their families and the freezing of their bank accounts.

The bishops denounced the recent spate of violence following clashes in March between opposition supporters and riot police at a prayer rally convened by an alliance of opposition, church and rights groups.

"As bishops we denounce all forms of violence perpetrated by whatever source as a means of resolving conflict as this is a degradation of those created in the image of God," they stated.

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