Christian leaders in Britain are appealing to their own government to accept asylum-seeking Zimbabwean refugees, who were left homeless by their government's policy to "drive out trash."

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe says the government's demolition of structures, which left an estimated 300,000 shanty town residents homeless, are part of "Operation Drive Out Trash" -- a campaign to destroy illegal structures as part of urban renewal, mostly in the capital, Harare.

The government has been accused of human rights violations over the razings.

"I think it's deeply immoral to send people back there," said Anglican Communion leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, in an interview with BBC news.

The British government has not wanted to issue immediate blanket asylum for all of the displaced, saying there could be abuses by those trying to exploit official controls on immigration. It says it will deal with each asylum case on an individual basis.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said no one genuinely believed to be in danger would be returned to Zimbabwe.

Roman Catholic leader Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor agreed with the Anglican archbishop on not sending back asylum seekers. He also used strong words to denounce Zimbabwe's leadership.

"The government of Zimbabwe appears to be conducting a sustained, systematic campaign of terror against its own citizens," he said.

He added, "the expulsion of thousands of poor people from their homes, leaving them to sleep in winter temperatures in the open air, is deeply abhorrent."

He added that there should be a moratorium on deportations as the international community attempts to understand the situation in Zimbabwe.






Francis Helguero
Christian Today Correspondent