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Tutu slams Zimbabwe over democracy
Swiss Info
February 06, 2005

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5519528

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu has criticised
Zimbabwe for "making a mockery" of African democracy and has urged regional leaders to scold
contemporaries who fail to foster justice and freedom.

Tutu last year hit out at "kowtowing" in South Africa's ruling ANC party, including over
President's Thabo Mbeki's policy of quiet diplomacy toward its neighbour Zimbabwe, sparking a
fiery public debate between the two men.

The archbishop told South Africa's Sunday Independent newspaper that Robert Mugabe's
Zimbabwe was making a mockery of African attempts to improve governance and defend
democracy as the continent tries to secure more aid from rich countries.

"We have a responsibility. People should see that we do really care about things like freedom,
justice ... the basic freedoms for which we have fought," he was quoted as saying.

"We have to say, places like Zimbabwe make almost a mockery of our saying that we are
committed to these things and makes it difficult for those who are our friends."

The diminutive cleric said Zimbabwe was a "huge blot on the record" of the world's poorest
continent. He was speaking ahead of this weekend's G7 meeting of rich nations, aimed at finding
new ways of helping Africa tackle poverty and extending billions of extra dollars in aid.

Critics blame Mugabe for a political and economic crisis that has ruined the once prosperous
southern African country and say elections in 2000 and 2002 were rigged. Zimbabweans go to
the polls again in March. Mugabe last year called Tutu "an angry, evil and embittered little
bishop".

South Africa is Zimbabwe's most important trading partner and has been criticised for its "softly
softly" approach toward a key regional ally. In recent weeks South Africa stepped up emphasis on
the March vote as a test for the troubled democracy.

Long a thorn in the side of South Africa's former white regime, Tutu said his recent caustic
exchange with Mbeki -- during which the president accused him of resorting to "empty rhetoric" --
had made him "sad for his country".

Stressing that he did not want to reopen that debate, Tutu said the ANC could do little to "really
affect me or affect those of us who were privileged to have participated" in freeing South Africa
from white rule.

Without directly pointing the finger at Mbeki or the ANC, Tutu said firmer action was crucial on
HIV/AIDS, which affects more South Africans than in any other country and has been a source of
contention due to long delays in rolling out life-saving treatment to million infected.

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