Tutu says African silence on Zimbabwe is a "shame"

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu said on Friday African leaders should feel ashamed for their silence on events in Zimbabwe where the main opposition said police assaulted activists including its leader.

"We Africans should hang our heads in shame," Archbishop Tutu said in a written statement. "How can what is happening in Zimbabwe elicit hardly a word of concern let alone condemnation from us leaders of Africa?"

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change says its head Morgan Tsvangirai and scores of party supporters were arrested and beaten in police custody after attempting to stage a prayer rally in Harare in defiance of a ban by President Robert Mugabe's government.

Images of a battered and bruised Tsvangirai going to court have triggered condemnation from former colonial ruler Britain, the United States and other Western countries, but the response from Africa has been largely muted.

"After the horrible things done to hapless people in Harare, has come the recent crackdown on members of the opposition ... what more has to happen before we who are leaders, religious and political, of our mother Africa are moved to cry out 'Enough is enough?'," Tutu said.

African Union Chairman John Kufuor has said leaders on the continent should be embarrassed over events in Zimbabwe, and do more to resolve the crisis there.