Twitter briefly blocks Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu

The ex-archbishop's @TutuLegacy account racked up hundreds of followers in its first hours of use, before being black listed.

"Twitter says it's 'sorry for the inconvenience' over our suspension. We got caught up in a spam clean up. Glad it wasn't something we said," Tutu tweeted soon after he was unblocked.

His foundation had earlier expressed dismay at the decision.

"Twitter has not explained how following 30 people could be construed as 'aggressive following'," his foundation said in a statement.

The foundation suggested "the number of people who followed @TutuLegacy in a short space of time," may have also been to blame.

"I hope the powers that be at Twitter find it in their hearts to fix the problem and let us communicate again," Tutu's daughter Mpho said.

"We need to reassure all those people who started following us today that this is the real deal!"

The news about Twitter came after it was announced earlier on Thursday that Tutu's Cape Town home had been burgled.

Thieves took "small household items". Tutu, 81, and his wife were unharmed.