Archbishop cuts up dog collar

John Sentamu pledged that he would not wear the symbol of his office again until the Zimbabwe president had been removed from power.

He insisted the gesture represented the way Mugabe had "destroyed the identities" of his people through oppression and economic mismanagement.

The intervention - during an interview on BBC1's Andrew Marr show - came amid an EU-Africa summit which has been dominated by arguments over Mugabe's attendance.

Although the Zimbabwe leader is banned from the EU, his African peers demanded he was invited to the two-day event in Lisbon.

Gordon Brown boycotted the meeting as a result, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel took the opportunity to lambast Mugabe for "damaging" Africa.

Mugabe himself hit back by accusing the European powers of "arrogance" and acting as proxies for the British.

Mr Sentamu - the second highest ranking bishop in the Anglican Communion - took off his dog collar and used a pair of scissors to cut it up as he lamented the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe.

"As an Anglican this is what I wear to identify myself, that I'm a clergyman," he said. "Do you know what Mugabe has done? He's taken people's identity and literally, if you don't mind, cut it to pieces. This is what he's actually done to a lot of (people) - and in the end there's nothing. So, as far as I'm concerned, from now on I'm not going to wear a dog collar until Mugabe is gone."

Mr Sentamu urged those who were moved by his gesture to "pray, march, protest and collect money" for Zimbabwe and Darfur - where charities say hundreds of thousands of people are facing starvation.