Zimbabwe was a beacon of hope: Archbishop
Zimbabwe is on the brink of "national disintegration" and could face the sort of communal violence seen in Rwanda and Kenya, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York warned on Thursday.
Rowan Williams, the leader of the worldwide Anglican communion, and Ugandan-born John Sentamu added their voices to calls for an arms embargo against Zimbabwe and urged the international community to find a solution to the post-election crisis.
The archbishops said the electoral process in Zimbabwe was now "without credibility" because of vote-rigging, violence and delays in announcing results from the March 29 vote.
"Continuing political violence and drift could unleash spiralling communal violence, as has been seen elsewhere in the continent where early warning systems or the international community failed to act in time," Williams and Sentamu said in the joint statement.
Former "beacon of hope"
They described President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe as a former "beacon of hope" but said they viewed the current crisis with "foreboding and sorrow".
"The current climate of political intimidation, violence, vote rigging and delay has left the presidential election process without credibility," they said.
"Now the people of Zimbabwe are left even more vulnerable to conflict heaped upon poverty and the threat of national disintegration.
"It is therefore crucial that the international community act in support of regional efforts to bring a mediated settlement to this political crisis so that the social and economic and spiritual crisis of the country can be addressed."
Zimbabwe is a majority Christian country.
Zimbabwe's electoral commission on Thursday continued slowly to release the results of a partial recount from the elections which the opposition says it won, while Mugabe's camp appeared divided over the merits of a possible national unity government. AFP