U.S.-born Jesuit says Zambian president fears strong opposition

Published: 2006-01-09

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Zambia's president has criticized the nation's bishops because their emphasis on dialogue creates a stronger opposition, said a U.S.-born Jesuit who has lived in Zambia since the late 1980s. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa's antagonism toward the bishops is also influenced by the church's "clear support for constitutional reform," said Jesuit Father Peter Henriot, director of the Jesuit Center for Theological Reflection in Zambia's capital, Lusaka. Mwanawasa, who hopes to win a second five-year term, "is worried about going into the elections with a stronger opposition," Father Henriot said in a Jan. 6 telephone interview. "The church's efforts to promote dialogue in the political sphere don't suit him," Father Henriot said, noting that the president's criticism of the bishops' conference has "received much attention" in the Zambian media. The church and local human rights groups were among those who welcomed Dec. 31 recommendations by Zambia's constitutional review committee.

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