Archbishop cuts up dog collar
Sunday, 09 Dec 2007 14:23
Dr Sentamu became the Church of England's first black archbishop in 2005
The archbishop of York has sensationally cut up his dog collar in protest at Robert Mugabe's rule in Zimbabwe.
Dr John Sentamu has vowed he will not replace his collar until Mr Mugabe, 83, is out of office.
The controversial archbishop made the gesture live on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show.
Mr Mugabe is at the EU-
Africa summit in Lisbon this weekend, with prime minister Gordon Brown boycotting the event in protest at the Zimbabwe leader.
While using a pair of scissors to cut his dog collar into shreds, Dr Sentamu said Mr Mugabe has torn people's identity.
"As an Anglican this is what I wear to identify myself, that I'm a clergyman," Dr Sentamu said.
"Do you know what Mugabe has done? He's taken people's identity and literally, if you don't mind, cut it to pieces. This is what he's actually done to a lot of - and in the end there's nothing.
"So, as far as I'm concerned, from now on I'm not going to wear a dog collar until Mugabe is gone."
Inflation has rocketed to about 8,000 per cent in Zimbabwe with basic items such as bread, sugar, and petrol often not available in local shops.
Only one in five of Zimbabwe's adult population has a job and the country has the shortest life expectancy in the world, with the average for women of 34 while men do not live past 37.
South Africa president Thabo Mbeki has been blasted for not mentioning Mr Mugabe in a speech about Africa's poverty yesterday.
Dr Sentamu urged African leaders to take a stand against Mr Mugabe.
"It is African leaders who seem to say 'we are backing a
revolutionary'. I'm sorry, that is a lot of nonsense. They ought to realise what he has actually done," Dr Sentamu added.
"It has become a scourge on the conscience of the whole of world.
"Why aren't we, as a world community, uniting against Mugabe?"
Click here for a summary of the situation in Zimbabwe