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| author/source:SW Radio Africa |
| published:Mon 2-Jul-2007 |
| posted on this site:Tue 3-Jul-2007 |
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| Article Type : News |
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| “A line must be drawn" |
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By Violet Gonda
Pius Ncube, the outspoken Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo is making headlines in the western press over reports that he is ‘calling on Britain to invade Zimbabwe to remove Mugabe from power.’ There has been mixed reactions to the Archbishop’s words. Some say the statements are damaging for the Archbishop and that they play into Mugabe’s hands while others say it's a statement of frustration that shows how desperate things are in the country. They say the Archbishop is one of the few leaders who see the suffering at first hand and is brave enough to speak his mind. SW Radio Africa caught up with the Archbishop and asked him to explain what he meant. He said if the present government continues to cause suffering on the people, and people are not allowed to elect a government of their own choice, “then it will be justified to raid them and bring them down.” He said if the worse comes to the worst stronger nations should not just stand around and let people die when a government goes against its own people.
He gave the example of Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic who started killing his own people. He said it was justified for Europe to go in and protect the innocent. On the BBC Today programme on Monday, he also gave the example of Rwanda, where 800,000 people were murdered while the world looked on. The Archbishop said many African heads of state and renowned church leaders have attempted to talk to the 83-year-old leader but to no avail. “We have Thabo Mbeki, Chissano, Muluzi, Mkapa, we have Obasanjo and he (Mugabe) hasn’t listened. Churchmen like Archbishop Ndungane – the successor to Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town - have talked to him but he didn’t listen. The Catholic Church, The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, The Zimbabwe Council of Churches, and the Pope have tried to talk with him, all to no avail. Ambassadors of different countries, human rights organizations have talked with this man all to no avail.”
Ncube added: “I am simply saying if the worse comes to worst, we haven’t come to the worst yet, but if it continues this way and people’s lives are at risk and this man continues being intransigent then it is justified to bring him down through invasion.” But the cleric was quick to point out that he was not in favour of violence or armed intervention. He said the international community should perhaps think about giving the regime deadlines for it to put its house in order. He said there should be a bottom line. “There must be a kind of a line to be drawn. If you are no longer serving your people and are choosing death for them then certainly the other stronger nations have a right to put you down.”
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