Reuters - Leading Zimbabwean human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and nine other activists were charged on Wednesday with plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's government.

Mukoko, a former newscaster who headed the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was picked up at gunpoint in Harare on Dec. 3. If found guilty the activists could face the death penalty, lawyers said.

The case could add to doubts over implementation of a power-sharing agreement between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai seen as a chance of rescuing the once relatively prosperous country from economic meltdown.

The opposition says abductions of activists have continued since a June presidential election run-off in which Mugabe was re-elected unopposed after Tsvangirai withdrew, complaining of attacks on his supporters.

Mukoko's independent organisation monitored human rights and had compiled reports of violence at this year's elections.

The activists were brought to a tightly-secured court in the capital Harare. They included a husband and wife and their two-year-old child.

The state-run Herald newspaper said the activists were accused of recruiting or attempting to recruit people for military training to topple the government. Citing a police statement, it said some of the activists had recruited people for training in Botswana, including a police constable.

It said the plan was to "forcibly depose" Mugabe's government and replace it with one headed by Tsvangirai.

 
Deadlock

Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe said the case would be referred to the High Court.

"The accused persons will be in custody unfortunately," he said.

Tsvangirai has threatened to suspend negotiations on a Sept. 15 power-sharing agreement if arrests do not stop. He won a first round election in March, but without an absolute majority.

Talks on sharing power have been deadlocked over control of key ministries, pushing Zimbabwe deeper into crisis. Hyper-inflation means prices double every day and a cholera epidemic has killed nearly 1,200 people.

South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu accused his country, the continent's main power, of betraying its legacy of struggling against apartheid by failing to take strong action against Mugabe.

The archbishop told the BBC in an interview that military force against Mugabe's government should not be ruled out.

"He must be asked to step down, and if he refuses I really believe that we have to invoke this new doctrine of responsibility to protect," Tutu told BBC radio.

Asked whether that meant going in by force, Tutu said: "Yes, yes -- or certainly the threat of it... He needs to be warned and his cronies must be warned that the world is not just going to sit by and do nothing."

South Africa's ruling African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma, describing Zimbabwe's situation as "utterly untenable", said it had to be resolved in the New Year.