Africa must break code of silence, says Annan

LONDON - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said African leaders must speak out against what he called the wrong policies of any governments on the continent.

Annan said it was vital for African countries to break their silence to protect the continent's credibility in the eyes of the world.

"What is important -- and what is lacking on the continent -- is (a willingness) to comment on wrong policies in a neighbouring country," he said before attending a summit of the Group of Eight (G8) top industrialised nations in Scotland.

Annan did not name Zimbabwe in the interview with the Financial Times, but a special representative of the UN secretary-general is assessing Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's demolition of shanty towns that human rights groups say has made 300,000 people homeless.

African leaders have been criticised for a reluctance to speak out against Mugabe.

"I've often tried to tell them they cannot continue to treat these situations as purely internal. It starts as internal but it becomes a regional problem," said Annan.

"Nobody invests in a bad neighbourhood and if you have just one or two countries behaving that way, that hurts everybody."

A leading Zimbabwean churchman urged G8 leaders on Wednesday to make action by African states against Mugabe's government a precondition for more debt relief and aid.

"The international community has done little to prevent Mugabe's excesses and it is time to act," said a report co-authored by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube.

On Tuesday, South African President Thabo Mbeki, criticised at home and abroad for so-called "soft diplomacy" on Zimbabwe, said he and Annan had agreed to wait for a report by Annan's envoy on the demolitions before deciding on a course of action.

- REUTERS