ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said yesterday that liberation war veterans would take up arms if he lost a June 27th presidential run-off vote.
Mr Mugabe told youth members of his ruling Zanu-PF party in Harare that the veterans would launch a new bush war if the election was won by opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
"They said if this country goes back into white hands just because we have used a pen [to vote], 'we will return to the bush to fight', " Mr Mugabe said.
His comments came as James McGee, the US ambassador in Harare, said 30,000 potential opposition supporters had been displaced from their homes as part of brutal tactics by the Mugabe government to swing the run-off in his favour.
Mr McGee, who was speaking by telephone from Harare, said the conditions ahead of the poll were the worst he had ever witnessed, while another western diplomat said Zanu-PF was determined to secure an election victory "at any cost".
"It's very, very obvious that there is political intimidation, there's thuggery, there's outright theft, murder, happening here in Zimbabwe," Mr McGee said.
"In my long diplomatic career, I have never seen anything comparable to this."
He added that voters were being forced to declare themselves illiterate - whether they could read or not - so that officials could accompany them to the polling booth and that rank and file policemen were also being compelled to vote for Zanu-PF.
Zimbabwe's High Court meanwhile ordered police to bring MDC secretary general Tendai Biti to court today and justify his arrest at Harare's airport on Thursday. Mr Biti faces a treason charge that could carry a death sentence.
"The order we got is for him to be brought to court and for the police to show cause why they are holding him," defence attorney Lewis Uriri said. He said Mr Biti was expected to appear in court early on Saturday morning.
Mr Mugabe lost a first round of elections against Mr Tsvangirai. But the official tally revealed the MDC leader to be just short of the absolute majority needed to avoid a run-off.
Prominent Zimbabweans in exile are planning to roll out a campaign in coming days to persuade and fund as many Zimbabweans living in South Africa and the region as possible to return to vote before polling day, in an effort to counter government tactics.
But it is unclear whether they would be allowed across the border, or whether their names would be on voter registers.
As many as 400 election observers from the Southern African Development Community arrive in Zimbabwe this weekend. Diplomats hope that in areas where they are present they will deter some of the violence.
However, there are more than 9,000 polling stations in the country. The senior western diplomat said Zanu-PF were establishing "no-go areas" to make sure that there were no external or foreign witnesses to the expected ballot stuffing on the day.