Bishops Warn Regional Leaders against Complicity in Zimbabwe's "Passive Genocide"

(26 Jan 09 - RV) Today the bishops of the Southern African region told political leaders that they must stop supporting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe or accept complicity in a «passive genocide,» of the nations people.

In their message the bishops said that Mugabe must step down immediately and southern African officials «must stop supporting and giving credibility to the illegitimate Mugabe regime with immediate effect»

But at an emergency summit today in South Africa the 15-member regional Development bloc failed to persuade Mugabe to implement the power-sharing deal signed with the opposition last September.

Spokesman for the London-based Zimbabwe Vigil group, Dennis Benton told us the repeated appeals of Zimbabwe’s neighbours are useless without real pressure