Head of Anglican church confronts Zimbabwe’s Mugabe

HARARE, (Reuters) – The head of the worldwide  Anglican Church met Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe today  to hand him a dossier of abuses against the church and its  priests in Zimbabwe and demand an end to a campaign of  persecution.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was greeted by  thousands of Anglicans in Harare on Sunday and delivered a  hard-hitting sermon criticising seizures of Church property and  harassment of its followers by members of a breakaway church.
Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, a Mugabe supporter excommunicated by  the church, has secured a court ruling giving his breakaway  faction custody of all Anglican Church’s assets in Zimbabwe.
He has used the ruling to take over church hospitals and  schools, eject bishops and officials from church buildings, and   force Anglicans who remain loyal to the worldwide church to  worship in private schools and halls.
“We have asked, in the clearest possible terms, that the  president use his powers as head of state to put an end to all  unacceptable and illegal behaviour,” Williams told journalists  at a Harare hotel after a meeting with Mugabe that lasted more  than 90 minutes.
Kunonga says he formed the breakaway faction to rid the  church of homosexuality. But Williams said Kunonga’s allegations  were a distraction from the real problems in Zimbabwe that  caused the split.
“I think the scale of intimidation documented in the dossier  was something that he (Mugabe) was actually not entirely  familiar (with),” he said.
“He expressed his concerns at the damage the division was  doing to communities generally in Zimbabwe and he is willing to  speak to Dr Kunonga to raise the concerns that we had flagged up  this afternoon.”
Mugabe did not speak to journalists.