Anyone who saw Andrew Marr's show this morning will no doubt have been as impressed as I was by the interview with the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu. The passion with which he spoke about the plight of the people of Zimbabwe was matched only by the force of his criticisms of the South African President for sitting on his hands on the issue.
Unlike most British critics of Mugabwe's regime, Dr Sentamu cannot be dismissed by Mugabwe as being an imperialist. Dr Sentamu is himself from Uganda and so his criticism that African leaders are sitting on their hands because Mugabwe is black should really hurt them.
What is happening in Zimbabwe today is no better than what happened in South Africa under apartheid and the world must do more to intervene. Gordon Brown was right to boycott the summit this weekend and both he and Dr Sentamu should be praised for taking a stand. It is a stain on the new South Africa that it is providing a veneer of respectability to the regime in Zimbabwe.
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