ANC seeks to calm war of words

BBC NEWS | Africa: "South Africa's ruling party has intervened in the war of words between President Thabo Mbeki and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, trying to calm tempers. The African National Congress said that Mr Mbeki's statement reflected the party's views but denied he had called the archbishop a liar and a charlatan.

Tutu also raised concerns about President Mbeki's policies on Aids and the crisis in Zimbabwe. The trade union movement, Cosatu, which is allied to the ANC, but unhappy with many aspects of government policy leapt to the archbishop's defence, only to receive its own sharp rebuke.

Last month, Mr Mbeki used his weekly online column to criticise a high-profile anti-rape campaigner. In May, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe called Archbishop Tutu "an angry, evil and embittered little bishop" after the Nobel Peace prize winner likened Mr Mugabe to an archetypal African dictator. "