Bishop Alexio Muchabaiwa, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Mutare, yesterday refused to shed any light on the forced departure from Nyanga, reportedly by so-called war veterans, of Father Patrick Joseph Kelly.

Three weeks ago Muchabaiwa promised to investigate the circumstances in which Kelly was forced to leave his St Gabriel's Church in Nyanga. Instead the bishop told the reporter: "It is very surprising why you are so interested in Father Patrick Joseph Kelly's matter. I do not have any information to share with you on that one." Last month, Kelly said he received an ultimatum to leave the area by 22 August. It was issued by a group of seven war veterans, supported by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

Kelly immediately went into hiding and is reportedly still underground, awaiting the outcome of Muchabaiwa's investigation of the matter. It was not immediately clear by yesterday whether Jack Straw, the British Foreign Minister, had intervened to save Kelly, after a request by Michael Ancram, Conservative shadow foreign secretary, to do so. Kelly said yesterday he had still not yet received any assistance since his eviction from Nyanga. He said: "Fearing for my life, I fled. I am forced to shuttle between places. "I do not understand why our church leaders are taking so long to solve such a straightforward case."On 16 August a group of so-called war veterans approached Kelly and accused him of preaching opposition politics.

They reportedly ordered him to leave Nyanga or face unspecified action. Kelly said he was briefly detained twice by CIO agents who questioned him about anti-government literature he allegedly distributed in the area. In an unrelated incident, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference urged the government to depoliticise the procurement of food amid claims by the opposition MDC that war veterans and Zanu PF activists were abusing it for their personal consumption. In an August pastoral letter released last week, the bishops, among them Patrick Chakaipa of Harare, Pius Ncube of Bulawayo and the retired Auxiliary Bishop of Mutare, Patrick Mutume, appealed to their sister churches around the world to donate food. The United Nations has said about six million people need emergency food aid in Zimbabwe.