Zimbabwe's bishops tell government to stop violence immediately

Published: 2005-06-09

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Zimbabwe's bishops criticized the government's "Operation Restore Order," which has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes, and called on the authorities to "stop this violence immediately." Noting that people's dignity and human rights are being violated, the Zimbabwean bishops' conference warned the perpetrators, "History will hold you individually accountable." Since late May authorities, including riot police, have been demolishing homes and vendors' stalls in shantytowns around the capital, Harare, as well in other Zimbabwean cities and the tourist resort of Victoria Falls. Government officials said the operation is aimed at getting rid of illegal settlements and reducing crime in the black market, which has flourished in the past five years amid a worsening economic crisis. In some areas, police provoked riots "by moving in on unarmed and peaceful citizens," the bishops' conference said in an early June statement from its Harare headquarters.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .