"We call on African and other states of the world not to recognise the de facto presidency of former President Robert Mugabe," said Tinyiko Maluleke, the president of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) in comments published by the Catholic Information Service for Africa (CISA).
Unlike the South African government, he called for more sanctions on Zimbabwe. "While we recognise that further sanctions will hurt the poor and suffering Zimbabweans, we have come to the conclusion that the people of Zimbabwe are already burdened with untold suffering," Maluleke was quoted as saying.
"The time has come for all states to apply and intensify universal sanctions against Zimbabwe as part and parcel of the negotiations for power-sharing in Zimbabwe," stressed Maluleke.
CHRISTIAN FAMILIES
His spoke shortly after Christian aid group Barnabas Fund told BosNewsLife it was concerned about the plight of thousands of Christian families in the country, where inflation now hovers around 150.000 percent and reported ongoing violence against opposition supporters makes it difficult to survive. Many Christians are struggling to find food and medicines, altough the group said it has been able to help thousands of impoverished Christians.
SACC General Secretary Eddie Makue urged the Southern African Development Cooperation (SADC) and the African Union (AU) to "work harder" to help set up a transitional government to bring together the opposition and Mugabe’s party, said SACC General Secretary Eddie Makue, CISA reported.
"The run-off elections in which Mr Robert Mugabe ran alone were neither free nor fair, therefore this presidency is illegitimate," he was quoted as saying. He said the transitional government should, amongst other things, bring an immediate end to the violence and human rights violations while it negotiates a more stable, long term socioeconomic and political situation.
OPPOSITION LEADER
In Zimbabwe meanwhile, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai left the Dutch embassy Monday, June 30, after he decided the situation in Zimbabwe was calm enough for him to return to his home, the Netherlands Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, July 1. He sought shelter at the
embassy more than a week ago, citing security concerns.
Tsvangirai won the opening round of Zimbabwe’s elections, but withdrew from the runoff June 22 because of state-sponsored violence against his supporters.
President Robert Mugabe, who claimed victory in Friday’s widely discredited election, was attending an African Union summit in Egypt’s resort of Sharm el Sheikh where he received a warm welcome from his peers. His spokesman already advised Western countries condemning the ballot to "go hang."
Yet, the summit was expected to consider a resolution on Zimbabwe Tuesday, July 1, with several African countries, including Liberia, Sierra Leone and Senegal, pressing behind the scenes for a strong statement condemning the runoff election.
