Mugabe threatens opposition leaders over violence

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe threatened on Monday to arrest opposition leaders over election campaign violence for which his opponents blame ruling party supporters.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, branding Zimbabwe's government a "criminal regime", joined U.S. President George W. Bush in urging Mugabe to allow international monitors to ensure a free and fair presidential run-off election on June 27.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been repeatedly detained during his campaign, but has faced no charges. His Movement for Democratic Change says 66 people have been killed in the election violence by ruling ZANU-PF supporters.

Mugabe blames the opposition for the disturbances.

"There is now a pattern readable across the country and that has now to stop," he told a campaign rally in Kadoma, 150 km (90 miles) south of the capital Harare.

"We are warning them that we will not hesitate to arrest them, and we will do that in broad daylight. They think they are protected by the British and the Americans. The law of the country has to be observed."

Mugabe is battling to keep his 28-year hold on power in a country suffering economic collapse. Tsvangirai won the first poll in March but without enough votes for an outright victory, official results showed.

Brown, at a joint news conference with Bush in London, said Zimbabwe's government was an "increasingly desperate and criminal regime" and accused it of orchestrating the violence.

"Mugabe must not be allowed to steal the election," he said.

"We call for Zimbabwe to accept a United Nations human rights envoy to visit Zimbabwe now and to accept international monitors from all parts of the world who are available to ensure that this is a free and fair election," Brown said.

HARSH WORDS

Former colonial power Britain has long been critical of Mugabe but has increased the harshness of its language in recent days.

A senior U.N. envoy, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Haile Menkerios, arrived in Zimbabwe late on Monday for a five-day visit to assess Zimbabwe's political and humanitarian crisis before the run-off vote.

"I'm here to make an assessment of the whole situation and report back," he told journalists, adding that he would meet Mugabe during his visit.

The last senior U.N. official to visit Zimbabwe was U.N. habitat head Anna Tibaijuka, who produced a damning report on the government's shantytown clearance exercise in 2005.

Observers from Western countries were barred from the first round ballot on March 29 and are not being allowed in for the run-off. The African Union and the Southern African Development Community will send teams.

Bush supported Brown's call.

"We will work with you to ensure these good folks have free and fair elections to the best extent possible, which obviously Mr Mugabe does not want to have," he said.

Mugabe, 84, has held power since independence from Britain in 1980. His ZANU-PF lost control of parliament in the March 29 election, but the president has the greatest say in running the country.

Critics say the economy has been ruined by Mugabe's policies, such as seizing white-owned farms to give to landless blacks. He says Western sanctions are responsible.

Zimbabwe's once prosperous economy has collapsed, with official inflation running at 165,000 percent, unemployment at around 80 percent and food and fuel in short supply. Millions of Zimbabweans have sought work abroad, most heading to South Africa, where their presence has stoked social tensions.

Zimbabwe ordered international aid agencies to stop work on June 4, accusing them of working against ZANU-PF.

(Additional reporting by Mike Saburi and Katherine Baldwin in London, editing by Tim Pearce)