Archbishop of Canterbury set to meet Robert Mugabe

The Archbishop with Bishop Chad Gandiya in Harare

The Archbishop of Canterbury is expected to meet Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe later and call for an end to the persecution of Anglicans.

Rowan Williams criticised "mindless and Godless assaults" in a sermon in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, on Sunday.
But he urged his audience to shun violence and intimidation.
Nolbert Kunonga, a renegade bishop who backs President Mugabe, has been accused of inciting violence against Anglicans who do not support him.
During the Eucharist sermon, Dr Williams pointedly criticised what he said was the "lawlessness" that characterised Zimbabwe.
BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said the meeting between the archbishop and the 87-year-old president would take place against the background of Dr Williams' intense and sustained criticism of Mr Mugabe's regime and was likely to be tense.

The Reuters news agency quoted Mr Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba as saying the president would question Dr Williams on the Anglican Church's position on homosexuality and western sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Anglicans accuse Mr Mugabe of helping Mr Kunonga, the former bishop of Harare dismissed by Dr Williams, to carry out assaults on them.
Congregations have been beaten by Mr Kunonga's supporters and attacked with tear gas.
Dr Williams has questioned Mr Mugabe's political legitimacy and held him responsible for the persecution.
In his sermon on Sunday to an estimated 15,000 Anglicans, Dr Williams, apparently in response to Mr Kunonga's claim that he represents "neo-colonial interests", acknowledged that British colonialism had been motivated by greed.
But he said it was tragic this illegitimate rule had been replaced by "another kind of lawlessness"