Mugabe should be toppled: Archbishop of York

London, Dec 7: The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has said that Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe should be removed from power and be made to face trial for his various crimes against humanity. Writing in The Observer, Dr Sentamu says that the world must recognise that it is time for Mugabe to be forced out.

"The time has come for Robert Mugabe to answer for his crimes against humanity, against his countrymen and women and for justice to be done. The winds of change that once brought hope to Zimbabwe and its neighbours have become a hurricane of destruction, with the outbreak of cholera, destitution, starvation and systemic abuse of power by the state," The Guardian quotes the archbishop, as saying.

"As a country cries out for justice, we can no longer be inactive to their call. Robert Mugabe and his henchmen must now take their rightful place in The Hague and answer for their actions. The time to remove them from power has come," he adds.

He said the power-sharing deal signed by Mugabe and the Zimbabwean opposition in September was 'now dead'.

The Archbishop's attack came as Gordon Brown also stepped up the rhetoric yesterday, calling the Zimbabwean government a 'blood-stained regime' and urging the international community to tell Mugabe 'enough is enough'.

South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Dutch TV that Mugabe must stand down or be removed 'by force'.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said it is time for African governments to 'take decisive action to push him out of power'.

Zimbabwe is currently in the throes of a cholera epidemic in which 575 people have died and 13,000 are infected, while its economy continues to wrestle with record-breaking inflationary trends.

Inflation is at 231,000,000 per cent and the Reserve Bank has been unable to print money fast enough to keep up with prices, which double every 24 hours.

ANI