SOUTH AFRICA: Mangosuthu Buthelezi, head of South Africa's largest black opposition party, has warned an ethnic war could be started by supporters of former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
South African President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma, a Zulu, last year after he was implicated in a corruption scandal but the charges were dismissed in court last month. Mr Buthelezi warned Zuma's supporters against persistently alleging a conspiracy against Zulus "in the absence of evidence to support such an allegation".
"This is playing with fire because Africa is sick and tired of ethnic wars, as we can see in Darfur, Sudan. Bandying about this kind of allegation is most dangerous for us as a country and as one South African nation. It can start an ethnic conflict that we do not need," the South Africa Sunday Times quoted him as saying.