Annan: Mugabe rivals must work with Zanu-PF

(CNN) -- Zimbabwe opposition leaders must be willing to work alongside Robert Mugabe's party -- even if they unseat him in an upcoming presidential run-off vote, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan says.

Annan, speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN's Becky Anderson, said the Movement for Democratic Change of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai must draw on the experience of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party if it is to steer Zimbabwe safely out of crisis.

"There is concern that whatever the outcome of the election, there is need for dialogue, there is need for mediation between the two groups regardless of who wins," Annan said.

The former secretary-general, involved in arbitration after presidential polls on March 29 resulted in a bitter standoff, also warned Zimbabwe's neighbors that the country's troubles would spread through the region unless they helped address the situation.

And he said South Africa should even consider deploying its military at home to contain a wave of deadly violence that has targeted Zimbabwean migrants as regional economic woes trigger discontent. Watch full interview with Kofi Annan. »

Annan said that while Mugabe -- who has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist since taking power nearly three decades years ago -- should be condemned for "tyranny," a win for Tsvangirai in the June 27 run-off must not be allowed to develop into an anti-Mugabe backlash.

"President Mugabe and his party have run Zimbabwe for 28 years. The opposition has not had a chance to govern because alternates that you expect in democracy have not happened and so it is extremely difficult," Annan said,

"Whether the opposition wins they will have to find a way to live with Zanu-PF who have controlled the levers of power for so long.

"There is concern that whatever the outcome of the election there is need for dialogue, there is need for mediation between the two groups regardless of who wins."

Annan, who served as U.N. chief from 1997 to 2006, praised efforts by the African Union and the Southern African Development Community to find solutions to Zimbabwe's crisis, but urged the country's neighbors to do more.

"The tendency for some to think this is an internal matter is nonsense," he said.

The crisis in Zimbabwe has sent millions of refugees into neighboring countries and has prevented countries that once bought from food from Zimbabwe from doing so -- proof that the problems are not simply an "internal matter," Annan said.

On the situation in South Africa, where a convulsion of violence against mainly Zimbabwean foreigners has left more than 50 dead, Annan said the trouble was purely triggered by financial strife rather than a more worrying trend of xenophobia.

But he called on the government to impose tough controls to curb the attacks that have forced many migrants to return to face further hardships, and possible persecution, in their homeland.

"It is desperate -- high food prices -- and when people are desperate they often turn on the other; the other in this case being the Zimbabwean.

"The government has to take firm measures and from what I am seeing, they are beginning to be firmer in handling this.

"What they need to do is appeal to the people and have police out to protect these people, even, if necessary, send out the military. Protection of civilians is an important secondary mission of any army and when bullies come out, they need to be countered."

All About Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • Morgan Tsvangirai