(ENI) – The German embassy in Harare has sent a strongly-worded letter of protest to the Zimbabwe government after some of its soldiers beat up a Jesuit priest who has lived in the country for most of his life and was rushing a boy to hospital.
“The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany … wishes to express its utter consternation about a violent attack on Father Wolfgang Thamm SJ, by four junior members of the Zimbabwean army on 15 November 2009 at the city of Banket,” read part of the letter.
According to the letter, Thamm, a German citizen in his late sixties, was driving and was then stopped “without apparent reason” by soldiers near the military barracks at Darwendale Clinic in Banket, nearly 100 kilometers northwest of Harare.
“One soldier took Father Thamm’s glasses and then slammed him in the face before forcing him out of the car,” the embassy said.
Other reports said a sick boy and a nursing sister were with the Roman Catholic priest in the car when it was stopped at Banket, where Thamm has served for 12 years.
“The priest was then ordered by the soldiers to kneel in a large puddle of water. When he hesitated to follow the order, he was pushed into the dirty pool and brutally kicked several times by the soldiers,” said the embassy letter.
The Zimbabwe Foreign Ministry said it had received the letter on November 17. Thamm reported the assault to the police but Ecumenical News International was unable to obtain a reaction from the police.
“This totally unacceptable misconduct does not only come as a disgrace to the Zimbabwean armed forces but must be qualified as being particularly despicable in view of the fact that Father Thamm, a well known personality in Banket, has devoted his entire life to religious, social, and educational work for the people of Zimbabwe,” the embassy said.
The German embassy called on Zimbabwean authorities to take action against the soldiers and to prevent similar incidents in future.
Mugabe and his chief opponent Morgan Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing government in February to avert a descent into conflict after the opposition Movement for Democratic Change won parliamentary elections in February 2008 and Mugabe refused to cede power, later winning a presidential poll he alone contested.
Zimbabwe residents have frequently reported that soldiers beat up Tsvangirai’s supporters and others who do not agree with Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.
Zimbabwe’s SW Radio Africa, which transmits news to more than 3 million Zimbabweans who have fled the country, wrote in an editorial, “It is of great concern that the army feels so unaccountable and free to abuse anyone they want to. It does not bode well for the future of Zimbabwe.”