Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Zimbabwe is facing a civil war: Church

byStaff writers
8 June 2008
Reading Time: 2 mins read
AA
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS): Zimbabweans in rural areas “fear for their lives”, a Church official said after a report warned that Zimbabwe is headed toward civil war.

Post-election attacks have been “most severe” in rural areas, and many Zimbabweans in these areas may be too afraid to vote for the opposition in the run-off presidential election on June 27, head of Zimbabwe’s Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, Alouis Chaumba said.

However, many people in the country’s towns and cities “are motivated to vote again to ensure an end to the present system”, he told Catholic News Service in a May 26 telephone interview from the capital, Harare.

“Many communities feel that voting will be an act of solidarity with their friends who have been killed or wounded in the violence, so that they did not die in vain,” Mr Chaumba said.

A report on post-election violence in Zimbabwe by the Solidarity Peace Trust, an ecumenical group of Church organisations from Zimbabwe and South Africa, said, “There needs to be a general recognition that Zimbabwe is sinking fast into the conditions of a civil war, propelled largely by the increasing reliance on violence by the ruling party to stay in power, and the rapidly shrinking spaces for any form of peaceful political intervention.”

The report, released in Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 21, contained about 50 eyewitness accounts of orchestrated beatings, torture and the destruction of homes and shops.

The results of the March 29 parliamentary and presidential elections are “a clear message that, despite the extremely harsh and repressive political environment in which elections have been conducted in Zimbabwe, the people of the country found the ‘resources of hope’ required to say no to continued authoritarian rule,” it said.

In their late May newsletter, Zimbabwe’s Jesuits said there had been “vicious, premeditated violence” on an unprecedented scale in the country since the elections.

They urged opposition supporters who have been attacked by government agents to resist the temptation to retaliate, saying this would be “civil war”.

Related Stories

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

ShareTweet
Previous Post

THE COUNTERFEITERS – Gripping tale of moral choices

Next Post

Archbishop’s award is ‘an honour for religion’

Staff writers

Related Posts

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition
QLD

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning
QLD

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Catholic relationship advisers offer five tips to look after your mental health
QLD

Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

19 May 2022
Next Post

Archbishop's award is 'an honour for religion'

Abortion proposal concern

Women honoured at ACU

Popular News

  • Catholic relationship advisers offer five tips to look after your mental health

    Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Hearts ‘fused’ together living their vocation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Queensland election: The pro-life political parties committed to abortion law reforms

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition
QLD

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

by Staff writers
20 May 2022
0

SURVIVING a stroke has transformed Lewis Hoffman and the lives of those he selflessly helps as a...

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Catholic relationship advisers offer five tips to look after your mental health

Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

19 May 2022
Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

19 May 2022
Holiness is possible and the Church provides tools to attain it, cardinal says

Holiness is possible and the Church provides tools to attain it, cardinal says

18 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping