Archbishop of Canterbury requests meeting with Robert Mugabe

Rowan Williams hopes to discuss the violent persecution of Anglicans in Zimbabwe when he tours the region next month The Archbishop of Canterbury is hoping to have face to face discussions with Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe next month amid the violent persecution of Anglicans in the country. Rowan Williams has requested a meeting with the Zimbabwean president when he travels to Harare as part of a tour of the south of the continent, according to his spokeswoman. Williams, who will become the first prominent British representative to visit Zimbabwe’s capital in a decade, is making the journey in an attempt to “show solidarity” with Anglicans in the region, she said. In recent months priests are said to have been beaten and arrested by police, staff evicted from church buildings and property seized, while some Anglicans have allegedly been arrested and murdered. Some have questioned whether Williams would make the trip due to the violent regime, but Lambeth Palace said there had never been any debate over the matter. The Archbishop’s spokeswoman, who confirmed he will also visit Malawi and Zambia during the trip, said the recent persecution is “more of a reason to go because people need more pastoral care”. She said: “The aim of the trip as a whole is a pastoral visit and it’s to show solidarity with Anglicans there, that’s really the aim of the trip.” Dr Chad Gandiya, the Bishop of Harare, told The Times he hoped the visit would bring respite to the Zimbabwean Church. He said police had been acting on the instructions of Nolbert Kunonga, the leader of a breakaway church and a Mugabe supporter. Last month the country’s chief justice ruled that all Anglican property in the Harare diocese was under Kunonga’s custody. Gandiya said despite the attacks, Church attendance numbers were thriving. “I often think, where are all the people coming from. Sometimes I ask them if they know what they are committing themselves to,” he said. Referring to Williams’ visit he added: “He is visiting the province. He is going to Malawi and from there he is coming to Zimbabwe. It is a pastoral visit, it is not a political visit. “He is not coming to tell Kunonga off because that is not his business. He is coming to encourage Zimbabwean Anglicans in their faith.” Lambeth Palace added it has requested a meeting with President Mugabe but has received no reply as of yet. The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, cut up his clerical dog collar in 2007 in protest at the regime of Mugabe, saying he would not wear it again until the president had left office. Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe Rowan Williams Anglicanism Religion Christianity Africa guardian.co.uk

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