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Archbishop Tutu: 'Africans should hang their heads in shame over Zimbabwe'


Africans should "hang our heads in shame" at this week's suppression of the opposition protest in Zimbabwe, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said on Friday In a statement issued by his office in Cape Town, on Friday, March 16, and availed by Allafrica, The Anglican Archbishop asked: "How can what is happening... elicit hardly a word of concern, let alone condemnation from us leaders of Africa?" "What more has to happen before we who are leaders, religious and political, of our mother Africa are moved to cry out 'Enough is enough'? Do we really care about human rights, do we care that people of flesh and blood, fellow Africans are being treated like rubbish, almost worse than they were ever treated by rabid racists?" Earlier in the week, Zwelinzima Vavi, Secretary-General of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), said events in Zimbabwe showed that South Africa's policy of "silent diplomacy" had not worked. Tutu, the Anglican archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, said he was thankful that Cosatu had spoken out. "I share their consternation at the silence of those we would have expected to speak out on behalf of the voiceless, the powerless ones," he added. But in a show of defiance, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe says he does not care what Western critics think of his rule. Mugabe said the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had instigated violence that led to the alleged beatings and arrest of its leaders. Speaking after a meeting with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, President Mugabe said, "When they criticise the government when it tries to prevent violence and punish perpetrators of that violence we take the position that they can go hang. Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai suffered a fractured skull and internal bleeding as a result of the police beatings during an outlawed prayer meeting held last Sunday March 10. On Saturday three opposition party workers badly injured by Zimbabwe's police were turned away from the airport as they sought to go to South Africa for specialist medical treatment. Source: CISA

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