Tutu urges action against Zimbabwe’s Mugabe

HARARE, Zimbabwe – With the death toll from Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic over 1,100 and the country in shambles, Nobelist Desmond Tutu said Wednesday it was time to threaten its longtime president with removal by force.

The comments came as the government of President Robert Mugabe brought a missing Zimbabwean human rights activist to court Wednesday, accusing her and at least six others of plotting to overthrow the 84-year-old leader. The activist, Jestina Mukoko, disappeared on Dec. 3 following nationwide protests against the country’s deepening economic and health crises.

Charging Mukoko, the respected head of a group known as the Zimbabwe Peace Project, in a plot already widely dismissed as a fabrication is seen as a sign Mugabe is not prepared to back down.

In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. aired Wednesday, Tutu called on Mugabe to relinquish power and said he was ashamed of his own country, South Africa, for its handling of the issue.

“We have betrayed our legacy. How much more suffering is going to make us say, ‘No, we have given Mr. Mugabe enough time,’ ” said Tutu, retired archbishop of Cape Town who won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize.

Mugabe has ruled the country since its 1980 independence from Britain and refused to leave office following disputed elections in March.

Asked during the interview if Mugabe should be removed by force, Tutu said there should “certainly be the threat of it.” And he added the president should be warned that he could face prosecution at the International Criminal Court for his violent suppression of opponents.