Zimbabwe: British Church leaders in joint call to SADC

The Rt Revd Crispian Hollis, Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth is among 12  British church leaders calling on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to "redouble" its efforts to ensure fair elections in Zimbabwe.

With Zimbabweans voting on 27 June in a second round to elect a president, Bishop Hollis and the 11 other church leaders have written a letter to SADC and Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa expressing "grave concerns about the deteriorating situation" in Zimbabwe, where violence and killings have followed the first round of presidential elections in March.

The 12 church leaders, including the Archbishop of York, The Most Revd John Sentamu, write: "All credible reports indicate that this is a deliberate campaign being perpetrated by militia groups aligned to the ruling party against suspected opposition party supporters and those who worked as election observers or election officials on polling day. We are concerned that there have also been attacks perpetrated inside churches."

The signatories add, "We respectfully request SADC to redouble its efforts to assist Zimbabweans to end the violence and intimidation and ensure that Zimbabwe abides by the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections."

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland have facilitated the writing of the joint letter, in which the 12 leaders stress the need for, "a level electoral playing field" in Zimbabwe. "This should include ensuring freedom of access by all parties to all areas of the country, equal access to the media, peaceful campaigning ... There will be a need for election results to be posted outside polling stations again, for the permits to be granted to domestic election observers to be issued immediately, and for the police and army to be banned from entering polling stations for any reason other than to vote."

The letter also asks President Mwanawasa, "to ensure that the numbers of SADC election observers are scaled up considerably and for them to be present now to monitor the pre-election environment and to stay on until the election results have been released."

The letter concludes, "We take no position on whom Zimbabweans elect to positions of authority, since this is their democratic prerogative. However, our partners insist that Zimbabweans should have the right to make that choice in an atmosphere free of violence and intimidation where the human and democratic rights of all are respected and upheld."

The signatories of the letter are:

The Rt Revd Crispian Hollis, Bishop of Portsmouth
The Most Revd John Sentamu, Archbishop of York
The Rt Revd Michael Nazir Ali, Bishop of Rochester
The Rt Revd Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark
The Rt Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Croydon
The Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, Bishop of Woolwich
The Rt Revd Richard Cheetham, Bishop of Kingston
The Rt Revd David Lunan, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
The Revd Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance
The Revd Dr Martyn Atkins, President of the Conference of the Methodist Church in Britain
The Revd Jonathan Edwards, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain
The Revd Stephen Orchard, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church