News reports from Zimbabwe indicate that two Anglican bishops might be targets for assassination.
ZimOnline.com reports:
Two senior Zimbabwe Anglican bishops have been told they could be assassinated, the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has revealed, as the fight for control of the church in the southern African country gets dirtier.
The Anglican Church in Zimbabwe has been in turmoil ever since the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) – the church’s supreme authority in the region — first suspended and later excommunicated a former bishop who is a close ally of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party.
Nolbert Kunonga, who as bishop of Harare attempted to use the pulpit to defend the Zimbabwean leader’s controversial rule, was excommunicated in 2008 after trying to withdraw the Harare diocese from the Anglican Church. He claims he revolted against the mother church because it supported the ordination of gay priests.
Kunonga with the backing of government police and security agents has been able to grab control of church halls and other property in Harare and has regularly blocked Bishop Chad Gandiya — who was appointed head of the Harare diocese by the CPCA — and his followers from using the churches to worship.
Williams’ office said Kunonga, his supporters in ZANU PF and the security establishment have stepped up their campaign of intimidation with some priests not aligned to the renegade bishop arrested, while Gandiya and Bishop Julius Makoni of the Manicaland diocese were informed they were targets for assassination.
“The situation for Anglicans in Zimbabwe is getting worse,” said the office of Williams, who is the symbolic spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.