W.House calls for UN to take up Zimbabwe situation

ROME (Reuters) - The White House urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to take up immediate consideration of the situation in Zimbabwe after reports of "state-sponsored violence" and political arrests there.

"We believe the time has come for the United Nations Security Council to take up immediately the issue to prevent further deterioration of the region's humanitarian and security situation," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement issued in Rome where President George W. Bush was visiting.

A senior U.N. official is scheduled to visit Zimbabwe next week to discuss the political situation and the presidential election runoff on June 27 between longtime President Robert Mugabe and opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The Zimbabwe opposition party's secretary general, Tendai Biti, was taken into custody at the airport on Thursday after he flew to Zimbabwe from South Africa to help Tsvangirai's election campaign. Police said Biti would be charged with treason and could face the death penalty.

Perino said the United States was "deeply troubled" by the arrest.

"The continued use of state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe and the regime's actions, including unwarranted arrests of opposition figures," were signs that international calls to end intimidation tactics had been rejected, she said.

The Security Council heard a briefing on Thursday on Zimbabwe from U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes, although U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters that council members were divided on whether they should take up the issue on a political level.

"A number of colleagues called for an open debate on the situation (in Zimbabwe) but a number of other colleagues expressed opposition to it," Khalilzad told reporters on behalf of the council, of which he is the current president.

Speaking as U.S. envoy, Khalilzad said he hoped U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Haile Menkerios would brief the council when he returns from Zimbabwe after his five-day visit, which ends on June 20. The council was divided on that as well.

Diplomats said South Africa opposed council involvement and was receiving support from China and Russia.

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations)

(Writing by Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Peter Cooney)