(AFP) – Jun 13, 2008

HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe raised the spectre of war on Friday if his arch-rival triumphs in a June 27 election, while the opposition accused authorities of trying to "cripple" their campaign.

In comments carried by state media, the 84-year-old president said veterans of the 1970s liberation war had told him they were ready to go into battle once more to stop opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai coming to power.

"They came to my office after the elections and asked me: 'Can we take up arms?'," Mugabe said, referring to the March 29 first-round vote.

"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?"

Although Mugabe told supporters of his ZANU-PF party at a rally northeast of Harare he did not want a return to war, he repeatedly raised the threat of conflict and warned voters against making a "mistake".

"Would you want to vote to go back to war, to fight for the country which we liberated?" he said.

His remarks added to the fevered poll build-up after Tsvangirai was twice detained while campaigning Thursday and a top lieutenant arrested for treason.

Tsvangirai also saw his two campaign buses impounded on Friday, a move described by Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa as "an attempt by ZANU-PF to cripple the MDC campaign."

Meanwhile, a group of 40 leading Africans, including ex-UN chief Kofi Annan and Mozambique's former president Joaquim Chissano, said in an open letter they were "deeply troubled" by reports of intimidation, harassment and violence.

Neighbouring Botswana said it was "deeply disturbed" by the unfolding events, summoning Zimbabwe's ambassador to Gaborone to protest the "unacceptable" detentions of the opposition top brass.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday spoke of his meeting with Mugabe last week at the global food crisis summit in Rome.

He had "emphasised the importance of ensuring that there should be no further violence" ahead of the election.

"I also urged him that humanitarian assistance should be allowed to be delivered to the many people who are suffering from this situation," he said on a visit to London.

Tsvangirai has been repeatedly portrayed by Mugabe as a puppet of former colonial power Britain and wealthy whites, thousands of whom have had their farms seized by the state as part of a controversial land reform programme.

Mugabe returned to that theme at a rally on Friday. "We cannot allow the British to dominate us here through their puppet," he told thousands of university students.

Tsvangirai for his part has accused Mugabe of being a dictator who has dragged the region's one-time breadbasket into a state of ruin.

Since Mugabe began his land reforms at the turn of the decade, the economy has gone into freefall. Inflation, officially put at 165,000 percent, is thought to be nearer two million percent while food shortages are widespread.

Tsvangirai has insisted that he passed the 50 percent threshold on March 29, but is nevertheless taking part in the run-off because he knows a boycott would hand victory to Mugabe.

On Thursday, he was detained for a total of nearly six hours after being stopped on two occasions by police in the centre of the country.

A key lieutenant, MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti was still in custody Friday after being arrested within minutes of landing on Thursday on a flight from South Africa.

A judge on Friday ordered police to bring Biti to court by the next morning after they failed to reveal his whereabouts. Police have said he will be charged with treason in connection with an alleged plot to rig victory for the MDC in the first round and also for pre-emptively announcing the results.

Signs of a police crackdown ahead of the vote have sparked international outrage.

US ambassador to Harare James McGee told journalists in Washington that the government's harassment of opposition leaders and its use of violence had made a "travesty" of the run-off.

"It is very, very obvious that there is political intimidation, there's thuggery, there's outright theft, murder, happening here in Zimbabwe right now," he added.

A statement from the African Union Friday said: "The (AU) Commission is concerned by the reported incidents of violence and disruption of electoral activities, and stresses the need for swift and effective action to address the situation."

In Geneva meanwhile, UNICEF said half a million children were no longer receiving health care, treatment for HIV/AIDS or food aid after a decision by the Mugabe regime last week to order the suspension of all aid work.

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