By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe had no official comment on Tuesday after one of its most notorious foreign guests was found guilty of genocide, but the opposition said Ethiopia's Mengistu Haile Mariam should be sent home to face justice. Mengistu, who has lived in exile in Zimbabwe since he was ousted in 1991, was found guilty of genocide by an Ethiopian court following a 12-year trial in absentia on his record of war, famine and bloody political purges. President Robert Mugabe's government, which regards the former Ethiopian strongman as a friend of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, reacted with silence to the verdict, but the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change said Mengistu should now find Zimbabwe's welcome mat withdrawn. "Mengistu is a very serious issue ... we feel that Zimbabwe should not be turned into a sanctuary and safe haven for tinpot dictators," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said. Mugabe's government routinely refuses to discuss its Ethiopian guest and has largely shielded him from the media. Most average Zimbabweans appeared to have little idea that the former Ethiopian leader was living in their midst. "Who is he?" asked Marian Kumbula, a mother of four. When told about Mengistu she said; "If it's the government that invited him here I don't think there is anything bad about it." "This is his home now because 15 years is long time staying in a foreign land," she said. Mengistu and his family stay in a government villa in Harare's plush Gunhill district, behind a high security wall guarded round the clock by a crack army and police unit. Little is known about Mengistu's life behind the wall, including how many people live with him, how he spends his time, who his friends are and whether he gets visitors such as Mugabe. Security around Mengistu was increased in the mid-1990s after two Eritreans tried but failed to assassinate him after ambushing him on an afternoon stroll. On the rare occasions when Mengistu has ventured out to local shopping centres those who are able to recognise him say he invariably wears military boots and carries a pistol. With Zimbabwe itself in the grip of an escalating political and economic crisis, some Zimbabweans said the last thing the country needed was to play host to a man once dubbed the "Butcher of Addis". "I think he has to go back to his country," said Thomas Mawoyo, a Harare trader. "Honestly if he committed crimes ... there is no reason why he should be around in this country. He has to go back and face the law at his own place."
