Amsterdam/Copenhagen - The international community should be
prepared to intervene military in Zimbabwe and indict Robert Mugabe
if he refuses to meet the world's demands and step down, South
African Bishop Desmond Tutu told Dutch media.
Speaking in the late night Dutch current affairs programme NOVA on
Thursday, the bishop, aged 77, said the Zimbabwean president must be
forced out of power as soon as possible.
'The point is that we should stop the suffering of so many
people,' said the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was in the
Netherlands to award the 2008 Childrens' World Peace Prize.
The bishop said the current state of Zimbabwe and the deplorable
situation of its people has made him change his strategy concerning
Mugabe.
Tutu said that previously 'I myself felt that Mugabe should be
given a soft landing. I then said he should be tempted with a carrot:
'If you step down, we will not bring you to (the International
Criminal Court in) The Hague.''
The Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC) is a
court of last resort for serious crimes of international concern,
including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
'Today I think the world must say (to Mugabe): 'Look, you have
been responsible for gross violations and you are going to face
indictment in The Hague - unless you step down.'
'He has destroyed a wonderful country. Zimbabwe has become an
empty basket. The country needs help,' Tutu added, saying that
African countries should play an important role in the process of
forcing Mugabe out of power.
'The world should bring him to The Hague and this should also
include African countries as well as the European Union. If
necessary, it should happen by force, by the African Union, (the
South African Development Community) SADC, and the European Union.
They have got that capacity.'
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday called
for President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe to step down, citing the
recent cholera outbreak as an example of his failed government.
Describing Mugabe's departure was 'long overdue,' Rice called
elections that had brought Mugabe to power a 'sham.'
After a meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen
in Copenhagen, Rice urged the international community, especially
Zimbabwe's southern African neighbours, to help break the political
impasse over a power-sharing government between Mugabe's Zanu-PF and
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
USA
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