Powell urges Zimbabwe pressure

By Martin Turner
BBC news, Washington

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has renewed a call on Zimbabwe's neighbours to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe to respect the rule of law.

Powell likened Mugabe's government to he Burmese junta

"If leaders on the continent do not do more to convince President Robert Mugabe... to enter into a dialogue with the political opposition, he and his cronies will drag Zimbabwe down until there is nothing left to ruin," he wrote in the New York Times newspaper.

Mr Powell said the US was taking action to help the Zimbabweans to resist tyranny, but added that such efforts were unlikely to succeed quickly without greater engagement by Zimbabwe's neighbours.

His comments come as President George W Bush prepares to make a visit to a number of African countries, during which he is due to spend three days in South Africa.

'No legitimacy'

Mr Powell was blunt in his condemnation of the Zimbabwean president and his government.

Recent opposition marches were ruthlessly broken up by police

Likening it to the Burmese junta, which he also attacked in a recent newspaper article, Mr Powell said President Mugabe and his politburo colleagues had a monopoly of coercive power but no legitimacy or moral authority.

He condemned the arrest of the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, saying his only offence was to call for work stoppages to protest against economic hardship.

Zimbabwe's neighbours, he said, and should play a stronger and more sustained role that fully reflects the urgency of Zimbabwe's crisis.

This is not the first time Mr Powell has made such remarks.

More than two years ago he spoke in South Africa of the danger posed to the entire southern Africa region by the political turmoil in Zimbabwe.