Archbishop Ncube "ready to die" for his people

Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube said he is ready to die rather than stay silent in the face of widespread human rights abuses in his country. The Archbishop of Bulawayo told Channel Four news on Friday: "I am ready to stand before a gun and be shot." Archbishop Ncube said he believed President Robert Mugabe should be arrested and tried before an international court for his 'Operation Drive Out Trash' which has left up to a million people homeless and destitute. His comments came on the day after the African Union rejected calls from Britain and the United States to intervene in the crisis. The African Union was a club, he said, that was refusing to act because it resented the economic and political power of the West. He said: "The South African government cannot talk about interference; they have done nothing but support Mugabe. "Mugabe is killing his own people. Prime Minister Mbeki has lost all reputation in Zimbabwe for supporting a dictator who is killing his own people." The archbishop said he could not understand why the international community could not do more to help his country. "We have some mad people in this world. For instance we have seen what happened in Rwanda. People are standing around, the UN standing around, the African countries did nothing about it and one million people perished. Do we want another Rwanda to take place due to a mad man who is just after power? Why can't we help a situation?" Archbishop Ncube has received many death threats. He is frequently followed, and said he expected to be under tighter surveillance when he returns to Zimbabwe. He said: "I am aware of the dangerous situation of speaking up but that is the only thing I can do -- to speak up for the people. I'll go back there. I am so angry. I am ready to stand before a gun and be shot." A Zimbabwean government government spokesman, Godfrey Magwenzi, from the Zimbabwean Consulate in London, said no one in Zimbabwe took them Archbishop seriously. He told Channel Four News: "The sewage and filth that spills out of that man's mouth should shame and embarrass all men of the cloth." Source: Channel Four News