Pretoria, South Africa, Jun 24, 2008 / 18:00 pm
Following the withdrawal of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from the country’s presidential race, the Catholic Bishops of Southern Africa have asked all African states to reject President Robert Mugabe should he be declared winner of Friday’s presidential run-off election. They also warned a humanitarian crisis looms unless there is a unified international effort to rebuke the abuses of the Mugabe government.
A coalition of religious groups has even called for international intervention to remedy the crisis.
“Sadly, the politically motivated violence, intimidation and torture have made a just and fair run-off presidential election virtually impossible,” the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) said in a statement, the Catholic Information Service for Africa reports.
The statement, signed by SACBC spokesman Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, said Tsvangirai, the candidate of Zimbabwe’s opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), withdrew from the election because it has “degenerated into a sham.”