The bishops of Southern Africa are visiting the heads of nations in
the region to ask them to use their influence to help ensure that
presidential and parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe later this year are
"free of violence and intimidation".A delegation of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) on 10 April met Armando Guebuza, President of Mozambique and of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
The bishops want SADC to push for all Zimbabwean parties to sign up to the Zimbabwe Political Parties Code of Conduct, and to ensure that adequate international monitors and observers are deployed.
They said they want to avoid a repeat of the "unprecedented violence" of 2008, when a wave of brutal attacks was unleashed on supporters of Morgan Tsvangirai, the main rival to President Robert Mugabe, who eventually accepted the post of Prime Minister.