HARARE - A vote for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe's June 27 run-off election will be akin to an act of war, vice-president Joseph Msika was quoted as saying yesterday.

HARARE - A vote for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe's June 27 run-off election will be akin to an act of war, vice-president Joseph Msika was quoted as saying yesterday.

"Voting for the MDC in the run-off will be like voting for Rhodesia and the British, which means voting for war," Msika told a rally in the southwestern town of Zaka on Wednesday, according to a report in the state-run The Herald newspaper.

"However, when I say voting for the opposition is like voting for war, it does not mean that once an MDC government is elected we will take up arms, but trouble will definitely start if whites take advantage of that, if they try and reverse the land reform programme.

"I will never accept being ruled by an MDC government that is keen to sell the country's birthright. I would rather die fighting."

Tsvangirai is hoping to topple veteran President Robert Mugabe in the election at month end after narrowly failing to win an outright majority in the first round in March.

Mugabe and his top lieutenants have frequently accused Tsvangirai of being a puppet of the former colonial power Britain. - Sapa-AFP