President Robert Mugabe has warned Zimbabwe's war of US, British diplomats held in Zimbabwe ...
Mugabe in Rome for UN food summit ...
Zimbabwe opposition leader held ... independence veterans are ready to fight to stop the MDC gaining power, state media report.

Mr Mugabe was quoted by the Herald newspaper as saying the veterans had asked approval to take up arms but he had dissuaded them.

They said Zimbabwe was won "by the barrel of the gun" and should not be let go at a pen stroke, he claimed.

Tensions have been high ahead of a presidential run-off poll on 27 June.

The MDC won the first round on 29 March but not by a wide enough margin to avoid a second vote.

'White oppressors'

"They came to my office after the [first round of] elections and asked me: 'Can we take up arms?'," Mr Mugabe was quoted as saying by the Herald, in reference to the veterans from Zimbabwe's 1970s war of independence.

"They said this country was won by the barrel of the gun and should we let it go at the stroke of a pen? Should one just write an X and then the country goes just like that?"

The 84-year-old Zanu-PF leader reportedly made the comments on Thursday at a rally in Murehwa, north-east of the capital Harare.

He said Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change would hand back Zimbabwe to "our former oppressors, the whites".

The opposition, rights groups and some Western governments accuse Mugabe supporters of directing a campaign of violence and intimidation against supporters of the MDC.

Mr Tsvangirai has found himself briefly detained on the campaign trail, while MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti was arrested in Harare on Thursday.

Mr Biti faces treason charges for allegedly proclaiming victory in the March elections before official results had been published, police said.

(BBC)

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