Mugabe vows MDC will never rule Zimbabwe

President Robert Mugabe vowed yesterday that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would never rule Zimbabwe and that he was prepared to fight to keep them from taking power.

"We shall never, never accept anything that smells of ...the MDC. These pathetic puppets taking over this country? Let's see. That is not going to happen," he said in a speech at the funeral of a former army general.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai will face Mugabe in a run-off presidential election on June 27 after winning the first round in March but without the necessary majority. Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost control of parliament in the same round of voting.

Tsvangirai, rights groups and Western powers accuse Mugabe of unleashing a brutal campaign, including using police to harass opponents, to win the run-off.

Tsvangirai and 11 MDC colleagues were held by police for three hours yesterday after being taken into custody at a roadblock. He has been detained several times this month.

The party's secretary-general, Tendai Biti, arrested last Thursday as he returned to the country, appeared handcuffed before a judge.

At a closed hearing, prosecutors said they planned to charge him with "treason and making malicious statements detrimental to the interests of the state", which could carry a death penalty, Biti's lawyer said.

Despite ZANU-PF's parliamentary losses, the president, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, has shown little sign of accepting change.

"It is clearly impossible to talk about a free and fair election in Zimbabwe," the MDC said in a statement after their leader was detained.

The MDC says 66 of its followers have been killed in attacks since the March polls. But Mugabe, 84, blames the MDC for the violence that has caused international concern.

A senior Western diplomat commented yesterday: "We are in the midst of yet another government crackdown and the evidence is all around us. Zanu-PF is determined to win this run-off at any cost."

Mugabe again accused Western countries of interfering in politics by sponsoring the MDC.

"We have become the focus of the British and the Americans. The US has provided $70 million to the MDC for regime change ...and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is interfering in our internal affairs.

"Never again shall this country come under the rule of the white man, direct or indirect - not while we, who fought for its liberation, live," he said to wild cheers from thousands of supporters, including soldiers.

The former guerilla commander told ZANU-PF youth members in Harare a day earlier that liberation war veterans had told him they would launch a new bush war if he lost the run-off.