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September 19, 2008

Zimbabwe church group urges 'national healing' after accord

by Ecumenical News International

HARARE — A coalition of church groups in Zimbabwe has urged national reconciliation following the signing of a power-sharing agreement between the country’s main political rivals, while a global church leader has criticized other nations for adopting a wait-and-see attitude before sending aid to the impoverished southern African country.

“The wounds inflicted by the past 10 years of violence and destruction should be acknowledged as part of the steps towards healing,” the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance said in a Sept. 17 statement. “The need for healing at grassroots level is critical if this agreement is to be meaningful to ordinary Zimbabweans,” the group added.

It called for “a process of national healing that will provide a platform for truth telling, reconciliation and trauma healing.”

Under the agreement signed in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, on Sept. 15, Robert Mugabe, who has led the southern African nation since independence, will remain as president. His rival, Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change party, will become prime minister. Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a smaller MDC faction, will serve as deputy prime minister.

In Geneva, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, who is a Zimbabwean theologian and general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, described indications by the wider global community that it would wait and see how the agreement works in practice before providing aid to the country as “a strategy for failure.”

Noko said on Sept. 18, “If the international community waits, the moment will pass. Like the political leaders in Zimbabwe, the international community must put other considerations aside, and focus on the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe.”

The power-sharing agreement came after months of negotiations initiated by the regional Southern African Development Community, and mediated by neighboring South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Mugabe, who once vowed Tsvangirai would never rule Zimbabwe, won another five-year term as president in June as the result of a one-candidate presidential run-off election after the MDC leader pulled out, citing a wave of violence against his supporters.

Zimbabwe’s economy was once an example of political and economic stability, but it has been in decline since the turn of the century, since when the majority of the country's 13-million people have experienced grinding poverty.

“The immediate challenge faced by the leadership of the three political parties is to create an environment for the agreement to be effectively implemented,” the Christian Alliance said. It called for the repeal of repressive laws and the beginning of a process to draft a new constitution. The group urged Christians “to continue to pray for Zimbabwe as it takes the first step towards the new future.”

Churches organized prayers for divine intervention, when the country’s political crisis threatened to reach tipping point following Zimbabwe's general elections in March.

The past president of the Heads of Christian Denominations group, Bishop Trevor Manhanga, praised the agreement. He said, “As church leaders, we are very happy and we regard the signing of the deal as an answer to our prayers.”

Manhanga led a team of church leaders who held meetings with Mugabe and Tsvangirai to try to broker talks between the two political rivals when tensions became evident.