Miliband brands Mugabe's rule "sadism"

LONDON (Reuters) - The British foreign secretary likened President Robert Mugabe's rule in Zimbabwe to "sadism" on Sunday and said South Africa had a responsibility to do more to bring pressure to bear on its neighbor.

David Miliband said countries had a duty to speak frankly about the crisis in the country as Mugabe's security forces ratchet up their intimidation of opposition leaders ahead of a presidential run-off election on June 27.

"The first thing is to be clear about the sadism, and I use that word advisedly, that's going on ... in Zimbabwe at the moment," Miliband told BBC television.

"People being killed, people being tortured, people being beaten. Election observers being stripped out, election officials being stripped out ... It's important that we speak plainly and frankly about that."

Miliband said he and Prime Minister Gordon Brown had spoken to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about the situation in the past two days and about the need for more election observers to ensure the run-off is not rigged.

"We can raise this at the U.N. and it's right that we do so because the pressure needs to be on absolutely clearly," he said, saying he hoped for more action from the security council.

"Four million refugees will not even have a vote in this election even if they dared to vote. It's important that the international community is clear about its own perspective because that can give confidence to the people in Zimbabwe."

Britain is usually reluctant to be outspoken in its condemnation of Mugabe as the Zimbabwean president tends to use the past as a stick to beat Britain and other Western powers with colonial histories.

Asked about South Africa's role in bringing pressure to bear on Zimbabwe, Miliband indicated that he was disappointed South Africa was not more willing to work through the security council, preferring instead to seek African solutions.

"I think the South African position at the U.N. on Thursday was against the full engagement of the U.N. security council," he said. "There's a major responsibility on South Africa in this area."

(Reporting by Luke Baker; Editing by Stephen Weeks)