Zimbabwe abuse must end for talks success: churches

By Robert Evans GENEVA (Reuters) - Violence and human rights abuses must end in Zimbabwe if talks on a power-sharing pact between government and opposition are to have any chance of success, a coalition of world Christian bodies said on Friday. It also called for a "genuine restoration of the rule of law" and for justice for the survivors of election violence. "We believe that the will of the people should be the fundamental basis on which to ground negotiations," a letter from the coalition, including the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC), declared. It said the talks between President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), under way in South Africa, should restore "peace, prosperity, dignity and the rule of law." The letter, made public by the WCC, declared... [read full story]