Rival says Mugabe could face justice

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe may be forced to face justice by a citizenry that has run out of patience with his regime’s abuses, his main rival said in an interview Thursday.\nZimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s new stance could make it even harder to dislodge Mugabe, who according to some critics is holding onto power because he fears he and his top aides will be dragged to court to face human rights abuse charges if he steps down.\nTsvangirai’s hardened position on Mugabe came the same day Zimbabwean state media reported that the ruling party accused the opposition leader of plotting with former colonial ruler Britain.\nThe opposition leader dismissed the treason charges and said accusations that he was plotting to overthrow the Mugabe regime were “outrageous.”\n“We are determined to have democratic change through democratic means,” not through violence, Tsvangirai told The Associated Press. “The people themselves are the ones that will change the government.”\nU.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Mugabe’s recent rule has been an “abomination.”\n“It’s time for Africa to step up,” she said. “Where is the concern from the African Union and from Zimbabwe’s neighbors about what is going on in Zimbabwe?”\nSouth African President Thabo Mbeki said Mugabe will not respond to a confrontational approach, and has been widely criticized for saying over the weekend that Zimbabwe was not in crisis.\nAt a news conference later Thursday, Tsvangirai called Mbeki’s comments disappointing and said that it was time for him to step aside as a mediator in the crisis. Tsvangirai called instead for Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who has been more critical of Mugabe than Mbeki has been, to take over mediation.\nZambian Information Minister George Mulongoti said Mbeki has been appointed to mediate by a regional group of which Zambia also is a member, and “any decision to change that would have to be done collectively.” Mbeki’s spokesman was not immediately available for comment.\nTsvangirai has said in the past that he is not interested in a “witch hunt” if he were to oust Mugabe because that would distract a new government from Zimbabwe’s economic and political crises.\n“There was a point where everyone would have respected that Mugabe must exit honorably. But the more he is digging in, the more he’s abusing people. I think that opportunity is being lost,” Tsvangirai told the AP. “I still think we should forgive and forget. But given the current wave of violence against the people, how do you sell that to the people?”\nNearly three weeks have passed since a presidential vote that Mugabe, accused of destroying his country’s economy, is widely believe to have lost. No official results have been released, and the opposition, which says Tsvangirai won, accuses Mugabe of withholding the results to stay in power.\nHuman rights groups say the postelection period has seen increasing violence against Tsvangirai’s supporters. Mugabe’s troops also were accused of massacres in the western Matabeleland province during an armed rebellion after independence in 1980. And his brutal countrywide slum clearance operation in 2005 has been decried as a violation of human rights.\n“Those who are responsible ... for gross human rights abuses” should face justice, Tsvangirai said, arguing that Mugabe would be at the head of this group.\nMugabe “is the ultimate authority,” Tsvangirai said. “The buck stops with him.” \nTsvangirai, relaxed in a dark suit, joked during the interview that he may earn a place in record books for facing the most treason trials. In 2003, after an 18-month trial, Tsvangirai was acquitted of treason in a case stemming from an alleged a plot to assassinate Mugabe.\nTsvangirai has survived three assassination attempts, including one in 1997 by unidentified assailants trying to throw him from a 10th floor window of the trade union congress’s headquarters.\nTsvangirai, who has been traveling outside Zimbabwe for most of the period since the election, acknowledged in the interview that his homeland was a dangerous place for him.\n“There are rogue elements there who might take the law into their own hands,” he said.\nBut he said diplomacy, not fear, was the main reason he was not at home. He would not say when he would return, saying his priority now is mobilizing international pressure on Mugabe.\n“I’ll go back. It’s just that I’ve got work to do,” he said.