Opposition will never rule here declares Mugabe as veterans say they'll take up arms for him

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The 84-year-old president claimed members of his feared war veterans had gone to his office asking: 'Can we take up arms?'

'They said this country was won by the barrel of the gun and should we let it go at the stroke of a pen? Should one just write an X and then the country goes just like that?'

Mugabe last week at a UN meeting and, right, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai campaigning yesterday

Mugabe said he told them that he did not want the country to go back to war. But he said Zimbabwe would never be ruled by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported yesterday.

The country has been hit by political unrest since the first round of voting on March 29, in which Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party were defeated for the first time since independence in 1980. Mugabe has accused MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai of being a puppet of former colonial ruler Britain.

'It will never happen that this land which we fought for should be taken by the MDC so that they can give it back to our former oppressors, the whites,' the paper quoted him as saying.

Force to be reckoned with: Mugabe supporters campaign north of Harare in 2002

Originally, the war veterans comprised those who helped Mugabe force independence, but there is now a new generation of thugs notorious for attacking on anyone opposing the president.

The threat of their intervention comes 48 hours after documents showing the role of the military and war veterans in harassing opposition supporters in the build-up to the June 27 presidential run-off were obtained by the BBC.

Mr Tsvangirai, human rights groups and Western powers have accused Mugabe of unleashing a brutal campaign to win the run-off.

Mr Tsvangirai says 66 of his followers have been murdered in recent weeks and hundreds beaten or abused.

The third most senior MDC leader, Tendai Biti, was arrested on his return from abroad on Thursday and faces a treason charge which could carry the death sentence.