Many Catholic priests and laity are on the list of persons targeted by soldiers and pro-state militia groups in President Robert Mugabe’s clampdown on perceived opposition sympathisers.
Many of the priests and Christians have been forced into hiding following death threats, a Zimbabwean priest, who must remain anonymous for reasons of his own security, told the Germany-based international Catholic pastoral charity, Aid to the Church in Need.
Grave human rights abuses are continuing ahead of the presidential run-off on June 27. In rural areas especially, people who had voted for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have been kidnapped, tortured, maimed and raped by soldiers and militia groups, the priest said.
There are many people who have been driven to destitution after their possessions were plundered and their houses burned down on charges of having voted for the opposition.
The priest expressed fear that the situation will only get still worse ahead of the run-off between President Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsivangirai who won the first round in the glaringly flawed March 29 election.
The priest called on all Catholics around the world to pray for the people of Zimbabwe -- and also for those "who are persecuting us, because we have exercised our democratic rights".
The Catholic charity ACN called for solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe and for increased aid, especially for the local Church, which is supporting democracy.
Meanwhile, a Zimbabwean church group said that freedom of worship in the country was being infringed in the weeks before the presidential run-off. Police invoked security laws to ban open-air prayer meetings in some parts of the country.
"We were told last week that churches are no longer allowed to hold prayer meetings in the open except on church premises," Pastor Useni Sibanda, a spokesperson for the group called ‘Churches in Bulawayo’, told Ecumenical News International.
‘Churches in Bulawayo’ is a loose coalition of congregations in Zimbabwe's second-biggest city. "In the past there were no restrictions on where churches could hold meetings, and for us this is actually an infringement on our right to freedom of worship," Sibanda said.
Source: CISA
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