CHURCH leaders who have experienced first-hand the situation in Zimbabwe have spoken out in support of the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, in his call for president Robert Mugabe to be thrown out of office.

Rev Graham Shaw, who pastors Methodist churches in Swanage, Wareham and Wool, previously served in Zimbabwe as a Methodist Minister from 1992 to 2006 and was engaged in full-time work on the humanitarian crisis.

He said: “I returned to Zimbabwe last year and again this April just after the landmark elections which should have, but failed, to usher in a new government accountable to the people. Having experienced something of the intense suffering of the people there, I can only welcome and endorse the recent comments by the Archbishop. He is right to call on the international community to take urgent action through the UN to intervene and save a much-abused and disempowered people who are now facing a man-made humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions.

“The world must act and I, for one, salute Dr Sentamu for drawing the nation’s attention to the crisis.”

“No one who has seen with their own eyes the plight of the people of Zimbabwe can be unmoved by it. They deserve our active support as much as ever the people of South Africa did under the yoke of their oppression in the dark days of the Apartheid era.”

The humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe is growing. Starvation is forecast for at least 40 per cent of the population within two months, cholera is rapidly spreading – claiming at least 746 lives – and inflation is at a staggering 231,000,000 per cent.

Matt Hosier, Pastor at Alder Road Baptist Church in Parkstone, returned from a trip to Zimbabwe on Monday.

He said: “People are just praying for a change of government and for some kind of normality to return.

“Those who have access to foreign currency get hold of food and other basics from South Africa or Botswana, but those without this are surviving on practically nothing.”

Rev Roger Bayldon, originally from Northern Rhodesia, is an ordained local minister based at St Peter’s in Parkstone.

He said: “I am utterly appalled at the situation and deeply concerned for friends I know who have relatives over there. When Dr Sentamu cut up his dog collar live on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show in December, 2007, I also removed mine. Dr Sentamu wanted to demonstrate that Robert Mugabe had stolen the identity of the people in Zimbabwe. By removing his dog collar he showed he was removing his own identity. When Morgan Tsvangirai was elected, I put my dog collar back on, but I’m now wondering if I was a bit premature in doing so.”