Zimbabwe: Uk Minister Calls for Global Action Against Mugabe

A British minister today called for "global action" to isolate Robert Mugabe's regime following the collapse of presidential elections.

Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, said: "We deeply regret the people of Zimbabwe have been denied the opportunity to make their voice heard."

He pointed out that, despite Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the presidential race, his Movement for Democratic Change had won parliamentary elections in March.

"That doesn't make Morgan Tsvangirai president, but nor does it make Robert Mugabe president," Malloch-Brown said.

"Our objectives are to get in every forum possible a recognition that today President Mugabe no longer remains the proper rightful leader of the country," he added.

"We do not accept the status quo. We do not expect the international community to accept the status quo."

He said an important test of international resolve would be an African Union summit at the end of the week, where Mugabe's fellow leaders would have to decide whether to invite him.

"The African Union has clear conditions on not accepting any national president not democratically elected to take their seats," Malloch-Brown said.

The minister said that Britain was exploring a raft of sanctions on Zimbabwe's political elite that did not worsen the plight of the poor, including travel bans and the freezing of bank accounts and bans on education abroad for the children of the country's rulers.

Malloch-Brown played down expectations that today's meeting of the UN security council on Zimbabwe would produce concrete results, but said that the EU would probably decide on a sanctions package by mid-July.

Malloch-Brown said that South Africa was "the key to solving the issue" and, in an apparent message to Thabo Mbeki, added: "It is enormously important that South Africa throws its weight behind an internationally mediated solution that respects the rights of the people."