Pius Ncube dedicates Scottish peace award to Zimbabwe people

"I didn't deserve this award, but I accept it on behalf of those in Zimbabwe whose suffering is unabated and whose struggle continues," said Ncube, who has stood up to the policies of President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party in the face of death threats. The 58 year-old Roman Catholic archbishop of Bulawayo urged Britain to reverse its policy of repatriating Zimbabwean asylum seekers after he was handed the award on Friday at Culzean Castle in Ayrshire, home of legendary Scottish poet Burns.

In an interview with the Scotland on Sunday newspaper on 21 May, Ncube said: "I urge Britain to suspend all action against Zimbabwean asylum-seekers who face certain death if they are returned to the country."

Mugabe has dismissed the archbishop as a "puppet" of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. But Ncube has described the 81-year-old president, who was brought up in a Catholic home, as "an evil man" who oppresses his people by all the means at his disposal. During the 31 March general election - which gave a landslide win to the ruling party - Ncube called for a Ukrainian-style peaceful uprising to rid the country of Mugabe who has ruled since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980. But in an interview with Scotland's Sunday Herald newspaper, Ncube said he had changed his mind about that appeal. "I have to admit that the people are so oppressed and full of fear that there's no possibility of an uprising," he said. "If it happened now, it would be worse than Uzbekistan. They would be shot. People are so desperate they just don't know where to turn."

Also nominated for the Scottish award were the sisters of Robert McCartney. They triggered an international outcry against the intimidation of communities in Northern Ireland by paramilitary groups after the fatal stabbing of their brother. Other nominees were Romeo Dallaire, who led the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda; philanthropist Tom Hunter; and a Glasgow cleric, John Miller, who works with the poor in Britain.