LONDON, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - South African Nobel peace prize winner Desmond Tutu said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he supported any deal that would stave off conflict in Zimbabwe following contested elections.

The anti-apartheid struggle hero and former archbishop added that he thought that the evidence supported the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's (MDC) claims that it had unseated President Robert Mugabe.

'Anything that would save the possibilities of bloodshed, of conflict, I am quite willing to support,' Tutu told BBC television.

'The people of Zimbabwe have suffered enough, and we don't ... want any more possibilities of bloodshed.'

He continued: 'In a fraught situation such as we have had in Zimbabwe, anything that is helping towards a move, a transition, from the repression to the possibilities of democracy and freedom, oh, for goodness sake, please let us accept that.'

Rival camps held talks Tuesday over an end to Robert Mugabe's 28-year rule with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai saying weekend polls had given him a mandate for historic change.

While there was no public admission of defeat by Mugabe, several diplomats and even a senior source within his own party said the 84-year-old had agreed in principle to stand down.

Tsvangirai, whose party has already claimed victory in Saturday's joint presidential and parliamentary elections, also declined to declare himself the victor or confirm that any deal was in the pipeline.

Tutu said it appeared 'the evidence supports the claims of the MDC to have won.'

'Almost everybody, even the dumbest of us, would say that results would not have been held back and the announcement postponed had it not been the fact that Mr Mugabe has not won.'

He added that he hoped, once the situation was resolved, that Zimbabwe 'will have peace and stability' and that the 'international community will buttress support and invest as much as they can in the whole process of reconstruction.'