Archbishop urges peaceful Mugabe revolt

ONE of Zimbabwe’s most outspoken church leaders called for a peaceful uprising against President Robert Mugabe’s autocratic rule, just days before a parliamentary election that rights groups say is already tainted from years of violence and intimidation.

Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, of Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, said he was willing to put on his vestments and lead a march to Mugabe’s residence himself, but feared: “If I do it, I do it alone.”

“The people are so scared,” he said yesterday in an interview with The Associated Press. “You are not going to get that where people are so cowardly.”