Only God can remove me, says Mugabe

Harare: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe rejected a plea by South African leader Thabo Mbeki to cancel next week's presidential run-off election and form an interim government with the opposition, according to two officials with knowledge of the decision.

"The MDC will never be allowed to rule this country - never ever," Mugabe reportedly said on Friday in a meeting with local business people. "Only God who appointed me will remove me, not the MDC, not the British."

Mugabe dismissed the proposal partly because he was angry with Mbeki's decision to meet Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, on a June 18 visit to Zimbabwe, said one member of the decision-making council of Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.

Tsvangirai is prepared to discuss a coalition because he's concerned about escalating violence, said an MDC lawmaker and member of the party's national executive, also declining to be identified. Mbeki had proposed forming a joint government until fair elections could be held, both officials said.

Zimbabwe, a former British colony, holds a second round of voting on June 27 in which Mugabe, 84, will seek to extend his 28-year rule of the southern African nation. Tsvangirai, the 56- year-old leader of the MDC, won the first election without garnering the 50 per cent of votes needed to avoid a runoff.

Violence has intensified ahead of the ballot and the MDC says its supporters have been intimidated in a state-backed campaign.