Mugabe says war veterans ready to take up arms

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Friday that the country's war veterans had told him they would take up arms if he lost the June 27 presidential run-off election to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

"They said if this country goes back into white hands just because we have used a pen (vote), 'we will return to the bush to fight,'" the Zimbabwean ruler told youth members of his ruling ZANU-PF party in a speech.

Mugabe has used veterans of the country's independence war to bully opponents, notably during his government's seizure of thousands of white-owned farms.