Madam, - I am forced in conscience to comment on events in Zimbabwe. We have seen on the TV the face of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beaten "to pulp" and his companion with his arm in plaster. These brave men - African heroes - were tortured in police custody. One of their supporters had already been shot dead.
We all have heard the current statistics on Zimbabwe: it has the highest rate of inflation and the lowest life expectancy in the world. Millions of Zimbabweans are illegal aliens in neighbouring South Africa.
I have worked in Africa for 45 years and have many dear friends in a number of countries. I have heard these friends and others accuse Europeans and other Westerners, including missionaries, of racism. Yet in the face of the situation in Zimbabwe the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, and all other African leaders are silent and passive, out of respect for their "brother", Robert Mugabe. So many of these leaders claim to be Christian. How can they justify their silence and passivity?
If Mugabe were a white man, what would be their reaction? Are they not now engaging in the worst form of racism, tacitly approving the torture and death of those who are brave enough to struggle for freedom and the deaths from hunger and of thousands of Zimbabweans and the displacement of countless others?
Is there any way at all that the international community can put pressure on African leaders to put humanitarian concerns above their own racist and political agendas? I appeal to the international community and to African leaders to act now to halt the ongoing tragedy of Zimbabwe - it cries to God for an immediate solution. - Yours, etc,
EILEEN KEANE, Westpark, Artane, Dublin 5.