Tutu calls for international force for Zimbabwe run-off election

BERLIN (Thomson Financial) - South African Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu is calling for an international peace force to keep order during next month's presidential run-off election in Zimbabwe.

'It would be in the interests of all to send an international peace force to Zimbabwe,' the German newspaper Die Welt quotes Tutu, 76, as saying in an interview to be published on Monday.

'It's the only way to prevent any violence.'

Tutu was quoted as saying he the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the European Union could apply a certain amount of pressure to force Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to accept a poll verdict.

'Very few people are ready to relinquish power after having decided to ignore the voters' choice,' he said.

'I don't think Mugabe will give up so easily,' he added.

'It has to be made clear to him that he faces a clear choice and he must be told: either you hang on to power and lead an illegal government, which means you will bear the consequences, for example in the form of charges before the International Criminal Court for serious human rights violations committed in your name, or else you cut your losses, resign with whatever dignity you still have, and accept the soft landing offered to you.'

Tutu, a hero of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and 1984 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, said he once held Mugabe in high regard for fighting against white minority rule three decades ago in what was then Rhodesia.

But Mugabe did not have the right to exploit the respect he had acquired then to justify his behaviour now, Tutu told the newspaper.

A presidential run-off vote has been set for June 27 that will pit Mugabe against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who cancelled plans to return to Zimbabwe from South Africa this weekend for fear he might be assassinated. [e-mail] hjp COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.