Robert Mugabe Claims Zimbabwe War Veterans Would Overthrow Mdc

Zimbabwe's war veterans are preparing to violently overthrow the Movement for Democratic Change if the opposition party triumphs in elections later this month, Robert Mugabe said today.

The country's aging president, who faces a run-off election for the presidency on June 27, told young members of his ruling Zanu-PF party in Harare that the veterans had told him they would launch a new bush war if the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, wins.

"They said if this country goes back into white hands just because we have used a pen [voted], we will return to the bush to fight," Mugabe said, according to Reuters.

The war veterans, who usually act alongside Zimbabwe's youth militia, have regularly been used as shock troops to intimidate government opponents.

The threats emerged as 14 of Africa's most high-profile dignitaries, including the former UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, called for free and fair elections overseen by independent observers.

In full-page advertisements in the Financial Times and the South African daily Business Day, African academics, former heads of state and religious leaders said they were deeply troubled by reports of intimidation and violence.

"As Africans we consider the forthcoming elections to be critical. We are aware of the attention of the world," said the appeal, signed by some of Africa's most well-known figures, from the Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu and the Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour to the former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano.

"We call for an end to the violence and intimidation, and restoration of full access for humanitarian and aid agencies."

The current UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, who was in London for talks with Gordon Brown, repeated the plea.

"The June 27 run-off should be held in a most transparent and objective way so Zimbabweans can be given a free choice of leader," he said.

Brown called for an end to violence and oppression and demanded the immediate restoration of food aid. British officials say around 400 election observers could be needed to ensure the poll is fair.

Tsvangirai was released overnight after being detained by police ? the fourth time he has been held in the last fortnight.

However, an MDC spokesman said there was still no word on Tendai Biti, the party's third-in-command, who was arrested yesterday at Harare airport after arriving from South Africa.

Police said he would be charged with treason on allegations of "communicating statements prejudicial to the state". They would not say where he was being held.Biti had left Zimbabwe shortly after the March 29 vote for security reasons, and traveled around Africa helping Tsvangirai seek support from other countries.

Last month, police authorities were quoted in the state-run press saying that Biti had broken the law by declaring that Tsvangirai had won the presidential election before official results were released.

Before leaving Johannesburg yesterday Biti learned he would be arrested. He said going home was a "stupid decision", but an unavoidable one.

The MDC said 10 plainclothes policemen had taken Biti from Harare airport to an undisclosed location. Senior MDC officials made frantic efforts to contact the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, to secure Biti's release, Business Day reported. Last week, Mbeki helped secure Tsvangirai's release from police detention.

The escalation of repression ? and Biti's arrest ? came one day after Mugabe's Zanu-PF negotiators had agreed during talks with the MDC in Pretoria that the crackdown would stop.

The negotiators told South African mediators and MDC representatives Biti would be allowed to return home safely after nearly two months in South Africa.

Tsvangirai was twice stopped by police as he tried to campaign yesterday. His party said he was first held for about two hours, then detained again late into the night before being released.

The detentions are the latest examples of harassment and intimidation ahead of the elections, human rights groups claim.

Tsvangirai won the first round with 47.9% of the vote, compared with 43.2% for Mugabe. Recent statements by the military leadership and Mugabe's wife, Grace, suggest he has no intention of leaving office after the vote.

US diplomats said 20 tonnes of American food aid heading to Zimbabwean children had been seized by authorities last week and given to Mugabe supporters at a rally.

"This is a government that is taking tremendous and, frankly, awful strides to maintain its power, that is increasingly abusing its own citizens and has raised, or should I say lowered, the bar to a level that we rarely see," the US state department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said in Washington yesterday.

The White House press secretary, Dana Perino, urged the UN security council "to prevent further deterioration of the region's humanitarian and security situation".

The council is divided over what to do and whether to hold an open debate, said the US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who holds the council's rotating presidency this month.

The UN is sending Haile Menkerios, a diplomat and former Eritrean ambassador, to Zimbabwe next week to discuss the political situation and elections.