Iraq and Afghanistan get bombed back to the stone age to remove repressive regimes, but Zimbabwe gets away without even a cessation of cricket priviledges? Every day these atrocities are allowed to continue simply amplfies the hollow ring of the words of those supposedly fighting for "freedom". Letting those seeking asylum remain until regime change would at least go some way to compensate Zimbabweans for our apathy and inaction.
Simon Clark, Southampton, HampshireDeportation of asylum seekers to Zimbabwe is a clear violation of international human rights laws, to which the UK is a signatory. I warmly support the British media, churches and the public for trying to bring Tony Blair to his senses about the urgent need to halt deportations until Mugabe and ZanuPF are dead and buried. As long as Mugabe is there anyone returning to Zimbabwe from Europe will be persecuted. When things were right in Zimbabwe no one dared come to Europe, but it's because the people have been suffocated that they cry for safe havens and help. Muti Minashe Mars, Oslo, Norway
Our Home Office's policy on asylum is ludicrous. I heard a Home Office minister on Radio claim that no harm comes to people returned to Zimbabwe. It seems so strange that Home Office operatives cannot act on what their eyes see and their ears hear on the news, but have to wait months for a Human Rights report, or an Amnesty Report to corroborate what we all know. It's so pathetic to see the Home Office running so scared in case anybody accuses them of being a soft option. All our good British values of offering a safe refuge have been effectively swept away by our spineless and heartless bureaucrats who pander to the knee-jerk right-wing screamers. Russell Harris, London
I was disappointed and felt let down by the British Home Office system. Mugabe does not murder or carry mass killings on white people, but he is killing his own people. You don’t need a rocket scientist to tell you about the situation in Zimbabwe. You have CNN, ITV, BBC and many other media organisations giving you full reports. In Rwanda it took you months, years, if not decades to respond to the situation. It is the same in Zimbabwe, and yet you keep saying you want to send an envoy to carry out some special investigations. Stop delaying, help out these innocent, defenceless individuals. Name and address withheld
On the Today programme this morning the Zimbabwe Charge d'Affaires refused to admit that people's homes were being destroyed, by referring to these as "illegal structures". He showed no regret that two children had been killed in the process. This is just one of many examples of the inhumanity of Mugabe's regime, and one that confirms my belief that Zimbabweans seeking asylum in this country should be allowed to stay here. Our Government must not support such brutal regimes or condone their behaviour. Victoria Bull, Oxford
Does a genuine asylum-seeker avoid friendly countries on the way to a targeted destination? And yet what is happening in Zimbabwe is on a scale worse than anything that was experienced under apartheid. Capetown’s District 6 is nothing to compare with the devastation inflicted by Mugabe. Where is Nelson Mandela when the people of Africa are crying out for help? Z. Akbar, London
When do we stop allowing asylum-seekers to come to our country and abuse our hard-earned system? We worked hard for what each citizen has and it is being slowly eroded by people who know how to abuse our sense of humanity. David Sugg, Rauenberg, Germany
How about the good work that many illegals are doing in British nursing homes looking after the old 12 hours a day six days a week? Should we not be allowed to contribute taxes? I assure you that no one wants the stigma of been called a bogus refugee. If Mugabe were to go tomorrow we would all pay our way back home, which is where we want to be. Name and address withheld
Out of 15, 000 claimants only 270 were granted refugee status, that's about 1.8 per cent. One and a half million were made homeless in Zimbabwe in 2005. The Home office needs substantiated evidence. What is that? Do they want to see the corpses of the people they sent back? I feel ashamed to be English. John Williams, Leeds
As a white African I throw my arms up in despair, and think it's a pity there's no oil. The average black Zimbabwean is a peace-loving capitalist, who will unfortunately never stand up to Mugabe on his own. The country fed 16 African nations 12 years ago, yet today it cannot feed itself. What is happening there is equal to what happened in Rwanda. Is this not enough reason for the UK, or any other powerful nation, to step in? Zimbabwe stood by the ANC during apartheid, so it will be difficult for Mbeki openly to critize Mugabe. Blood, in Africa, is stronger than water. The UK need not fear the influx of Zimbabweans into this country, however. The average person does not earn enough in ten years to pay for a scrappy car, let alone a plane ticket to London. Neleen Strauss, London
The Zimbabwean people are afraid to protest for fear of being victimised; people are starving and would sell their own mother for food. If this Government could invade Iraq a "sovereign nation", citing WMD and Saddam killing his own people, why isn't it prepared to do the same for Zimbabwe? Shame on the Western world for allowing Mugabe to get away with it again. Barry Morgan, Welshpool
George Bush should be told of Zimbabwe's abundance of natural resources and the tyranny of Mugabe; Blair might then be persuaded to help America to invade and put Mugabe on trial. David Horry, Shanghai
Hillary Clinton writing in her memoirs about the world leaders that she had met over the years confides that "only two have acted in ways that I found personally disturbing". One of those who qualified as having "disturbed" her was Robert Mugabe. Since 1980, the Zimbabwean head of state has disturbed people all over the world and no more so than during the latest destruction that he is imposing on his own people. While the Government deserves our support in its new found desire to repatriate those people who abuse our asylum system, in the present situation it is difficult to understand returning the detainees to what must be certain death or persecution at the hands of this evil man. Keith Downer, London
Mugabe has been quoted as saying: "I want nothing from Britain". I am sure he will be in the queue to have his debt wiped out. If Zimbabwe had oil he would have been removed long ago by the West in the name of humanity. We have never sorted out the problems of Rhodesia. Lets do it now. Nigel Hay, Oxted
If Zimbabwe was still called Rhodesia with Ian Smith at the helm then by this time the world would have invaded in force. Because it is Zimbabwe and run by a black man then, like Darfur, a noise is made but nothing done. Peter Mitchell, Rome
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