Zimbabwean prelate criticizes church leaders silent on human rights

Published: 2004-07-22

LONDON (CNS) -- A Zimbabwean archbishop criticized church leaders who remain silent in the face of human rights violations by the government of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo said church leaders inside and outside Zimbabwe were "betraying Jesus Christ" by failing to denounce the political violence, starvation and oppression perpetrated by the Mugabe regime. "By keeping quiet they are playing into the hands of Mugabe. There is suffering in Zimbabwe, so much so I estimate personally that if it were not for the World Food Program, a good half million Zimbabweans would have perished from hunger," Archbishop Ncube told a London press conference July 21. The archbishop was in London to promote a new human rights organization, the Zimbabwe Defense and Aid Fund UK.

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