COE Bishop upset at Zimbabwean distortion of his statements

The Church News Daily reports:

THE BISHOP of Croydon, the Rt Rev Nicholas Baines has stringently denied an African news report which said he accused the British media of "peddling lies" about Zimbabwe.

He informed The Church of England Newspaper that the account of his comments in The Herald, given after a visit to the Bishop of Central Zimbabwe was "absolute nonsense" and is said to be "very upset" about the African newspaper article, published yesterday.

The story, based on a visit by Bishop Baines to his Zimbabwean counterpart, Bishop Ishmael Mukuwanda of the Central Region Diocese, reported Baines to have said that "London has no right to dictate how Harare should run its affairs".

The article in a newspaper owned by the Zimbabwe government claimed that Bishop Baines told the African Bishop that he and his delegation had visited Zimbabwe to "see we things for ourselves" rather than listening to the "propopaganda on our television stations."

For the comple Church of England Newspaper article click here and then select the daily issue dated 20 April 2007.