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Technorati"People are being abducted, tortured, humiliated by being asked to repeat slogans of the political party they are alleged not to support, ordered to attend mass meetings where they are told they voted for the 'wrong' candidate,” the statement read.
Religious leaders called for voter intimidation to stop, highlighting the “widespread famine” in the countryside and the lack of medicines to treat those injured in the post-election violence.
"If nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide similar to that experienced in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and other hot spots in Africa and elsewhere," they warned. "We appeal to the Southern African Development Community [SADC], the African Union and the United Nations to work towards arresting the deteriorating political and security situation in Zimbabwe."
Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s ruling party leader and the most outspoken African leader in Zimbabwe, has called on Africa to send a mission to Zimbabwe to force the issuing of the election results, according to The Independent.
In a joint statement Wednesday after their London meeting, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, one of Mugabe’s harshest critic, and Zuma said, “We resolved on the crisis in Zimbabwe to redouble our efforts to secure early publication of election results," according to Reuters.
"We call for an end to any violence and intimidation and stress the importance of respect for the sovereign people of Zimbabwe and the choice they have made at the ballot box."
Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1980. Under Mugabe, the once so-called breadbasket of Africa has spiraled into an economic meltdown with the inflation rate over 100,000 percent and the unemployment rate over 80 percent.
An estimated 3.5 million Zimbabweans have fled to neighboring South Africa and other countries to escape the hunger and to earn money to send back to family members still living in Zimbabwe.
“We would like to assure the people of Zimbabwe that the churches in Africa are praying for them so that a quick solution to the current political crisis can be reached,” AACC said on Wednesday.
