Reuters AlertNet Lite - Zimbabwe cleric says Britain should invade

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Zimbabwe cleric says Britain should invade - paper

01 Jul 2007 10:47:22 GMT
Source: Reuters

LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - A leading Zimbabwean cleric believes Britain would be justified in invading its former colony in order to rid it of President Robert Mugabe.

Pius Ncube, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Bulawayo, told London's Sunday Times the deepening destitution in his country, including millions going hungry and the world's highest inflation rate meant Britain would be right to act.

"I think it is justified for Britain to raid Zimbabwe and remove Mugabe," the paper quoted him as saying.

"We should do it ourselves but there's too much fear. I'm ready to lead the people, guns blazing, but the people are not ready."

Ncube, one of the most outspoken critics of Mugabe, said the president, 83 and in power since 1980, was squandering money while the people starved, saying he had just spent $2 million on surveillance equipment while most struggled along on $2 a week.

"How can you expect people to rise up when even our church services are attended by state intelligence people?" Ncube said.

Zimbabwean government officials were not available for immediate comment on Sunday.

But in the past, Mugabe's government has branded Ncube a Western agent helping to co-ordinate a propaganda campaign against Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party as part of a drive to oust it from power.

In May, Mugabe dismissed repeated criticism from the country's Catholic bishops as "nonsense" and warned that his government could start treating the clergy as political enemies.

There are around one million Catholics among Zimbabwe's 13 million people.

Once one of the most buoyant economies in southern Africa, with a well-educated population, Zimbabwe's economy is now in ruins, with unemployment of 80 percent and life expectancy tumbling to 37 years for men and 34 years for women.

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Last updated:Sun Jul 1 10:47:51 2007