Kenya warns of Rwanda-style disaster in Zimbabawe

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga warned on Wednesday that Zimbabwe could descend into a disaster akin to Rwanda's 1994 genocide if the world did not intervene rapidly to remedy the crisis.

Odinga called for the postponement of Zimbabwe's presidential run-off election scheduled for Friday, or failing that the appointment of a high-profile African mediator.

"Zimbabwe right now is a disaster in the making," Odinga, one of the most outspoken critics of President Robert Mugabe among African leaders, told reporters.

"If the world does not act now, we will soon have a situation very similar to what we saw in Rwanda," he said, referring to the 100-day slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the east African nation.

"Friday's elections should be postponed until conditions are created that will enable a free and fair election."

Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula told a conference the Zimbabwe crisis was an embarrassment for the continent. "These are the kind of blots that Africa can barely afford to have in this day and age," he said.

Addressing the same conference, Odinga gave details of a phone call he held with African Union (AU) chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete before he left for a meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

"I told him you need to take a firm stand at the SADC meeting. We need to appoint a mediator if the elections are held. There should be a supervisory team from the AU with support from United Nations," he said.

"I suggested former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, and Ketumile Masire the former president of Botswana. Kikwete assured me they are going to consider the two names."

(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Wangui Kanina)

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