Tsvangirai urges UN intervention in Zimbabwe

Tsvangirai urges UN intervention in Zimbabwe

TSANGIRAI at the press conference with UK Labour MP Kate Hoey - Pic by Harris Nyatsanza

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By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), describing the once rich nation as being "on autocruise to self-destruction", on Friday urged the international community to help end the catastrophe.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, on a visit to Britain to drum up support, said he would welcome input from the United Nations -- although he had no knowledge of a planned UN intervention mentioned on Wednesday by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

"The secretary general of the United Nations has authority to intervene in any international issue -- and Zimbabwe is an international issue," Tsvangirai told a news conference.

"I hope that this is not just political rhetoric and that he and President Mbeki will find the opportunity to talk to (Zimbabwean) President (Robert) Mugabe," he added. "When your house is on fire you need your neighbours to help you."

The head of the fractured political party said inflation in the former breadbasket of Africa was now running officially at 1,040 percent -- unofficially at 1,800 percent -- and 90 percent of the population were living below the poverty line.

So catastrophic were conditions in the former British colony of Rhodesia that average life expectancy was now just 34 years compared with 55 when it won independence in 1980.

Tsvangirai dismissed suggestions that the deep rift in his own party not only failed to provide leadership but also permitted Mugabe's ZANU-PF party -- in power for 26 years -- to maintain its grip on government.

MDC secretary general Tendai Biti said the party had even accepted the granting of immunity from prosecution for Mugabe and his family for alleged gross human rights violations if that would help in finding a way to save the nation.

The backbone of the country's agrarian economy has collapsed since wholesale farmland repossessions started in 2000, and famine is now endemic.

"Zimbabwe is a failed state," he told reporters. "It cannot continue on autocruise to self-destruction. It is a human rights crisis. There are global implications."

Biti said tempers were running high among the country's youth who were well-educated but had no money, no jobs and no prospects.

"The challenge of the MDC is to continue to provide leadership to prevent these youngsters adopting undemocratic means," he said.

"If we fail as a democratic force then the forces that replace us will be forces of violence, forces of anarchy," he added, stressing the MDC would continue its policy of non-violence - Reuters
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