|PIC1|In a joint letter, twelve senior British church leaders have called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to "redouble" its efforts to ensure fair elections in Zimbabwe, where people are due to vote on 27 June in a second round to elect a president.

Since December 2007, churches and agencies in Britain with partners or projects in Zimbabwe have been meeting at a Roundtable to take counsel on how they might best work together in support of their partners. The joint letter is a fruit of their discussions.

Writing to President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, who is president of SADC, the church leaders express their "grave concerns about the deteriorating situation" in Zimbabwe, where violence and killings have followed the first round of presidential elections in March.

The church leaders tell President Mwanawasa, "All credible reports indicate that this is a deliberate campaign being perpetrated by militia groups aligned to the ruling party against suspected opposition party supporters and those who worked as election observers or election officials on polling day. We are concerned that there have also been attacks perpetrated inside churches."

The signatories add, "We respectfully request SADC to redouble its efforts to assist Zimbabweans to end the violence and intimidation and ensure that Zimbabwe abides by the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections."

The letter's 12 signatories include Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York,
the Rt Rev Michael Nazir Ali, Bishop of Rochester, the Rev Jonathan Edwards, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Rev Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, and the Rev Martyn Atkins, President of the Conference of the Methodist Church in Britain.

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland have facilitated the writing of the joint letter, in which the leaders stress the need for, "a level electoral playing field" in Zimbabwe.

"This should include ensuring freedom of access by all parties to all areas of the country, equal access to the media, peaceful campaigning," the leaders say.

"There will be a need for election results to be posted outside polling stations again, for the permits to be granted to domestic election observers to be issued immediately, and for the police and army to be banned from entering polling stations for any reason other than to vote."

The letter also asks President Mwanawasa, "to ensure that the numbers of SADC election observers are scaled up considerably and for them to be present now to monitor the pre-election environment and to stay on until the election results have been released."

The letter concludes, "We take no position on whom Zimbabweans elect to positions of authority, since this is their democratic prerogative. However, our partners insist that Zimbabweans should have the right to make that choice in an atmosphere free of violence and intimidation where the human and democratic rights of all are respected and upheld."


The signatories of the joint letter, whose individual Churches or organisations have partners in Zimbabwe, are (alphabetically by church/organisation):

Baptist Union of Great Britain
The Revd Jonathan Edwards, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain

Church of England
The Most Revd John Sentamu, Archbishop of York
The Rt Revd Michael Nazir Ali, Bishop of Rochester
The Rt Revd Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark
The Rt Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Croydon
The Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, Bishop of Woolwich
The Rt Revd Richard Cheetham, Bishop of Kingston

Church of Scotland
The Rt Revd David Lunan, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Evangelical Alliance
The Revd Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance

Methodist Church
The Revd Martyn Atkins, President of the Conference of the Methodist Church in Britain

Roman Catholic Church
The Rt Revd Crispian Hollis, Bishop of Portsmouth

United Reformed Church
The Revd Stephen Orchard, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church