Bishop compares Gukurahundi massacres to Holocaust

The Gukurahundi massacres saw tens of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans killed by soldiers loyal to the Mugabe regime in the mid eighties. Last year, the Gukurahundi was officially classified as genocide by the internationally recognized group Genocide Watch.

Robert Mercer, the former Bishop of Matabeleland, made the remarks in an interview to mark this years Holocaust Memorial Day, held on Thursday last week. Mercer said although the Jewish genocide involved millions of deaths, it still reminded him of the Matabeleland killings. While stationed in Matabeleland he saw mass graves and shells from guns. I am a Zimbabwean, so those atrocities stick in my mind, he said.

Mercer went on to warn that with talk of an upcoming election, Mugabe will again torture people using units of the army and his Green Bombers, who butchered political opponents previously. In the run up to the polls in 2008, hundreds of MDC supporters were killed and tens of thousands tortured by ZANU PF using soldiers, secret state agents, and youth militia to carry out the atrocities.

This is the very, very strong possibility, Mercer said, We can learn from the past. The past teaches us that Mugabe will stop at nothing to force people into voting for him, and will destroy people who will vote against him.

The world wont take much notice there isnt oil. There are diamonds in Zimbabwe of course, and that goes into the pockets of the oligarchs and kleptocrats, he said.

Mercer said African leaders are not going to stop Mugabe as he is part of their dictators club. They certainly appear not to care. What pressure do they bring on Mugabe? Nobody wants to rock the boat over Mugabe, Mercer said.

The theme for this years Holocaust memorial was untold stories. The Gukurahundi is one of the worlds great untold stories and the ZANU PF regime has always fought to silence the Gukuranhundi story. Last year an art exhibition about the Gukuranhundi was outlawed, and the artist thrown in jail.

In another development, the head of the Anglican church around the world, Dr Rowan Williams, on Monday called on Robert Mugabe to stop persecuting Anglicans. Williams was referring to a faction of priests, led by an excommunicated bishop loyal to President Mugabe. The priests receive police backing to attack parishioners many of whom have been shut out of church buildings and forced to worship in the open air.