Robert Mugabe’s threat to treat Zimbabwe’s Catholic bishops as political enemies is being put into effect by pro-government militias.  Armed groups made up of youth and independence war veterans are targeting Catholics in rural areas where support for the ruling ZANU-PF party tends to be strongest.

Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, a long time critic of Mugabe's government, told IRIN the attacks by the militias were part of a strategy of intimidation ahead of next year's presidential and parliamentary elections.

"The Green Bombers [militias from youth training centres] are being used to go around to strike fear in voters so that, come next year, they will be forced to vote ZANU-PF," Ncube said.

Many Catholics have decided to stay home from church rather than risk intimidation and assault.  Militias tried to burn down the home of Father Tirivafi Haka (not his real name) after he publicised the bishops’ pastoral letter, "God Hears the Cry of the Oppressed", censuring Mugabe’s oppressive regime.

After a recent church service, the youths, led by a well-known war veteran, raided his home, Haka said, and attempted to set it on fire because he had distributed letters among his congregation. Haka fled and after two days in hiding sought medical treatment for a badly sprained ankle incurred during his escape at the nearby Murewa hospital. Militias descended on the clinic and threatened medical staff with violence if they provided Haka with treatment.

"As if that was not enough, they forced me to address my congregation denouncing the pastoral letter and the MDC while chanting ZANU-PF slogans; it is unbelievable and painful," he said.

Fr Haka was ordered to send a letter of apology to ZANU-PF and purchase a membership card with a week, or his butchery business would be closed down.

In response to the campaign of threats and violence, the bishops have issued this statement:

"We encourage every Zimbabwean to read the pastoral letter as a guide to understanding the source of our suffering and let it inspire our prayers and actions. We call upon every Christian individual and organisation to commit themselves to the truth of God's word about the situation and it is only the truth that will set us free."

In related news, the regime appears to have initiated a parallel intimidation offensive against human-rights lawyers who defend opposition activists.

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