Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has condemned some churches as “agents of violence and purveyors of falsehood (leverandører af usandheder)”, BBC Online reports Friday.
Mr Mugabe made his remarks after church leaders called for a boycott of a national day of prayer on Sunday, which the president was planning to attend.
He also warned the opposition Movement for Democratic Change that it was dicing with death (leger med døden) if it went ahead with a planned wave of street protests. Zimbabwe is suffering a deep economic crisis, with inflation at over 1.000 per cent.
Speaking during a passing-out parade for police recruits on Thursday, Mr Mugabe sent a warning to those “who claim to be champions of democracy while, in fact, they are willing conduits of violence”, the state-run Herald newspaper reported.
The Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, is among church leaders who have called for a boycott of a national day of prayer planned for Sunday, after it emerged that Mr Mugabe is planning to take part.
Mr Mugabes latest warning is similar to remarks he made in April, as the country marked its independence anniversary. His threats have come at a time when the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic change, has been weakened by an internal split.
