Out of Africa

Tutu to Mugabe: Give Yourself Up

Archbishop calls for Mugabe to step down or be removed by force.

Pressure is mounting for Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, to step down in the face of the country’s latest horror, a cholera epidemic that has stricken more than 12,500 people and killed more than 560, The Times of London reports. This week Mugabe’s government admitted, for the first time, that the epidemic is an emergency and asked for international aid. Nobel Peace Prize winner and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the world should tell Mugabe he is responsible for “gross violations” and that he faces indictment in The Hague if he doesn’t step down soonest. Tutu said Mugabe should be removed by military force if he refuses to resign. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga agreed. “It’s time for African governments to take decisive action to push him out of power,” he said.