Set the people FREE!

From 1972 until 1984 I lived in three countries, yet never moved! How? Well, I started off in Rhodesia which later, for a short period in its history, became Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, and then Zimbabwe.

It was a beautiful country, and I was very proud to be a part of it. As a Christian I did all that I could to help bring about a peaceful transition on the basis that I believe that we are all equal, and therefore this should be reflected in a true democracy. I have to say that I think that Ian Smith was a truly great Prime Minister, a man who believed in all that he did, and a great privilege to have been in the country under his leadership. This is not to say that I agreed with everything --- far from it --- but the way that he has been subsequently well-treated proves that much that was said of him by the overseas press, especially the UK press, was no more than propaganda.

It was a truly beautiful place to be. I had many friends from all areas of the community, and the country had benefited greatly from the UK-imposed sanctions against it, making it self-sufficient and creating a great number of new jobs, in turn bringing a level of wealth to the country that has never been experienced since.

Now Zimbabwe lies in ruins, the work of the dreadful dictator Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the one man responsible for the murder of countless thousands of his countrymen, for the rape of the land, and for the exodus of around three and a half million Zimbabweans from their homeland due wholly to his despotic and evil rule.

The reason that he remains in power owes much to the support of other African leaders and to the failure by various European governments to ban him totally from their lands. I believe that every African leader or foreign government who support him stands with him, guilty of his crimes with him, by association.

How much longer will the world stand by and let the unthinkable happen in countries such as Zimbabwe over and over again? Each time such a thing happens goverments vow that it 'must never happen again', yet happen it does, and goes unchecked whilst countless thousands suffer.

My heart bleeds for a country and a people that I learned to value and love. Please join with me in praying that God will free both land and people from the dreadful evil that grips it under Mugabe's rule.