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LONDON (AFP) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is using "hit squads" to crack down on opposition politicians and activists, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said in an interview published Tuesday.

Speaking to Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, Tsvangirai said: "Instead of random beatings at police stations, (Mugabe) is now using hit squads, unidentified men, unidentified vehicles.

"But we know these are units of state agents that have been given this assignment."

Tsvangirai and dozens of other activists were severely beaten as they tried to stage an anti-government rally on March 11.

The opposition leader laid the blame squarely at Mugabe's door, telling the Telegraph: "I can assess who is in charge of this -- it is coming directly from Mugabe."

"Mugabe is a violent man and he doesn't hide it, especially where his power is threatened ... No excuses, no regrets, the defiance epitomises his attitude."

The country's Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, however, denied Tsvangirai's allegations, saying bluntly: "It is a flat lie."

"He and his group are the people who started the whole process in defiance of the government's order not to hold a rally at a specific place," Mutasa was quoted by the Telegraph as saying.

Opposition to 83-year-old Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, has been steadily mounting amid an economic meltdown with inflation standing at 1,730 percent and four out of five people out of work.

Mugabe however has remained defiant in the face of virulent criticism, blaming the unrest on the MDC and its critics.

Global pressure mounted on Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday, with former colonial ruler Britain calling for tougher EU sanctions over his "disgraceful" crackdown on opposition leaders.
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Criticism of the Zimbabwean regime's violent campaign against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has deepened in recent days, with other African leaders joining a Western outcry over Mugabe's tactics.

Britain has been among the most vocal critics, and Prime Minister
Tony Blair on Wednesday said he wanted Europe to take a tougher line with the 83-year-old head of state.

"We will press the
European Union to widen the political sanctions that were introduced in 2002 and introduced very much as a result of our prompting at the time," Blair told parliament.

Mugabe himself and his entourage are banned from travelling to the EU under sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe in 2002 for human rights violations.

Blair echoed Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett's view that action was also needed from the UN Security Council and the UN Human Rights Commission.

"We will be urging partners in both those institutions to come out with strong statements against what is happening in Zimbabwe, which is appalling, disgraceful and utterly tragic for the people of Zimbabwe," he said.

Zimbabwe's ruling party however, said existing targeted sanctions had not achieved their goals, and had hurt the people of Zimbabwe despite the intention of the EU and US not to do so.

"The sanctions have not achieved what they set out to do. It's not true when they say the sanctions were limited. They were of course imposed on 126 members listed, but they (US and EU) put pressure on the IMF and
World Bank not to give grants and investment capital to Zimbabwe," ZANU-PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira told AFP.

"That has hurt the ordinary people. So it's not true that the sanctions only hurt the leadership."

Mugabe's government has been conducting a crackdown that has included arresting and beating opposition leaders.

On Tuesday, the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, called the president a "desperate dictator" and suggested that his long years in power were coming to an end.

"The fact is that the man is in a corner and he knows it," Dell said. "What we are really looking at is a failing regime that is increasingly wobbly."

At the same time, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa likened Zimbabwe to a "sinking Titanic" and said it was time to consider changing the traditional policy of "quiet diplomacy" with Harare adopted by the likes of Zambia and South Africa.

Zambia's former president Kenneth Kaunda, an historic ally of Mugabe's, urged African leaders on Wednesday to appoint a committee of eminent people to mediate in the worsening political crisis.

Amid all the criticism, Mugabe has remained defiant, and observers said there was little chance of him stepping down voluntarily.

"I don't think this signals the end of the line for Mugabe," analyst Moeletsi Mbeki of the Johannesburg-based South African Institute of International Affairs told AFP.

"I don't think he thinks of himself being in power because of public support. He stays in power through the use of terror."

Zimbabwe's junior information minister Bright Matonga said the government "will not be intimidated by its enemies," among whom he cited Blair and US
President George W. Bush.

"This is a personal vendetta they have against our president and they think we will chicken out. We are a sovereign nation," Matonga told AFP.

Following Blair's call for tougher sanctions, the African Union's representative in Brussels said there was an element of EU hypocrisy involved in approving action against Mugabe while ignoring abuses by other African leaders.

"I would have preferred that there were no double standards at the European level, even for judging heads of state," AU ambassador Mahamat Annadif told reporters.

Lord Iames Osari wrote:Yeah, but how do we know that the next guy will be any better?

Yeah, but how do we know that the next guy will be any better?

frigidmagi wrote:How do you know the next guy will be any worse? Way I see it we have nothing to lose by adopting my suggestion.