Zimbabwe Storm Clouds

Back around Easter I wrote about the ongoing oppression in Zimbabwe, and the valiant efforts of the nation's Catholic bishops to resist. The situation is not getting any better.

Zimbabwean Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube says he accepts that his opposition to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe may cost him his life.

"The church has a prophetic role to speak the truth when no-one else dares to," the Archbishop of Bulawayo told the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Meanwhile, a crackdown on aid groups suspected of opposing the president has begun, state media reports.

All non-governmental organisations must now reapply for their licences.

Last month, the UN said that 1.4m Zimbabweans would need food aid this year, as harvests were only due to meet one-third of the country's requirements.

Mr Mugabe blames the worsening economic crisis on a Western plot to remove him from power. MORE

Many people are starving in Zimbabwe. Outside groups are willing to help, but the Mugabe regime is tying them up with bureaucratic delays. I'm pretty sure there is no "Western plot" to overthrow Mugabe. You know why? Because the West doesn't care about Zimbabwe. Unlike, say, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe doesn't have anything we can't live without. We don't see the people dying on TV. Somewhere in the back of our minds, we know there are African people suffering. Then we change channels and forget about them.

That being the case, the people of Zimbabwe are on their own. Archbishop Ncube is doing what he can to protect his flock without much help from anyone else on Earth. Fortunately, he has other Resources to draw on. May God bless and save him.