The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Harare

Desmond Tutu threw the moral weight of his Nobel Peace Prize and war on apartheid into the Zimbabwe struggle Wednesday, suggesting it was time to threaten President Robert Mugabe's ouster by force. The retired South African archbishop also criticized his own government's handling of the crisis. The comments came as the government of President Robert Mugabe brought a missing Zimbabwean human rights activist to court Wednesday, accusing her and at least six others of plotting to overthrow the 84-year-old leader. The activist, Jestina Mukoko, disappeared on Dec. 3 following nationwide protests against the country's deepening economic and health crises. Charging Mukoko, the respected head of a group known as the Zimbabwe Peace Project, in a plot already widely dismissed as a fabrication is seen as a sign Mugabe is not prepared to back down.

In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. aired Wednesday, Tutu called on Mugabe to relinquish power and said he was ashamed of his own country, South Africa, for its handling of the issue.

"We have betrayed our legacy, how much more suffering is going to make us say, 'No, we have given Mr. Mugabe enough time,'" said Tutu, retired archbishop of Cape Town who won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize.