A Zimbabwean human rights activist missing for three weeks was taken to court Wednesday, and state media said she was accused in a plot to overthrow President Robert Mugabe.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu joined the growing international pressure on the longtime leader to give up power. Asked during a British Broadcasting Corp. interview if Mugabe should be removed by force, Tutu said there should "certainly be the threat of it."
Tutu, the retired archbishop of Cape Town, also said he is ashamed of South Africa's handling of the Zimbabwe issue at the U.N. Security Council, where China and Russia in July vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution that proposed worldwide sanctions against Mugabe and 13 officials.
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki mediated the power-sharing deal between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and South Africa reiterated this week it saw the deal as the only way forward, despite new U.S. and British opposition to it.
"We have betrayed our legacy, how much more suffering is going to make us say, 'No, we have given Mr. Mugabe enough time,'" Tutu told the BBC.
The court appearance of Jestina Mukoko came days after Tsvangirai threatened to withdraw from talks on implementing the power sharing deal unless at least 42 missing activists and opposition officials were released or charged.
Zimbabwe police officials had denied holding Mukoko, who had not been seen since being taken from her home Dec. 3, the day activists held nationwide protests against the country's deepening economic and health crises.
Mukoko and eight other activists were remanded to custody after appearing briefly in Harare Magistrate Court and were due to appear again on Monday, said Andrew Makoni, a lawyer representing them.
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