Southern Africa’s Catholic bishops urged the region’s governments to intervene in Zimbabwe, where they warned elections would be “dangerously premature” if held this year. “Conditions in the country are emphatically not conducive to elections in 2011,” the Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa said in a statement on Feb. 22 addressed to Angola’s President José Eduardo dos Santos, who heads the Southern African Development Community. Zimbabwe has not yet scheduled elections, but President Robert Mugabe has said they would be held this year. The bishops said reports have emerged that Mugabe is preparing to restrict freedom of association among the people, impose stricter limits on the media and use an outdated voters’ roll. “The nation is in the grip of extreme fear, polarization is still evident” and there are “increasing signs of intimidation” and violence as the election campaign builds, they said.
African Bishops Seek Election Delay
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
The conclave that begins next Wednesday to elect a successor for Pope Francis is the first in 46 ½ years for which the Vatican hasn’t ordered a set of cassocks from the two best-known papal tailors.
Papabile: How do conclave watchers come up with their lists of the next pope—and should we trust them?
The people of God see the bishop of Rome as a teacher, but they also unquestionably see him as a father.
Since the death of Pope Francis, lists of his possible successors have proliferated on social media and in newspapers. Should you trust them?