Mugabe threatens to bring whites to trial for genocide

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said he would bring to trial former white minority leader Ian Smith and other whites for alleged atrocities committed during the 1970s liberation war, state media reported Wednesday.

"The national reconciliation policy is being gravely threatened by acts of the white settlers. We shall revoke that national reconciliation policy," the ZIANA news agency quoted Mugabe as telling supporters of his ruling ZANU-PF party.

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"The whites, including Smith, will now stand trial for the genocide in this country. The Americans are still chasing after the Nazis and we will also start looking for the whites who fought with Smith. They must be arrested," Mugabe said.

The 76-year-old former guerrilla leader said white Zimbabweans supported by Britain and the United States were trying to destabilize the country, which won independence from Britain in 1980 after a bloody seven-year war against Smith's white-led Rhodesia.

Mugabe has in the past accused whites of financially backing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which poses the strongest challenge to his 20-year rule.

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