Demolitions Go on As Mugabe Defies Un

President Robert Mugabe's government continued bulldozing homes yesterday, defying a UN call to halt demolitions that have already left hundreds of thousands of people on the streets.

The continuation of the programme, which was focused yesterday on Porta Farm on the outskirts of Harare, came as the UN security council held a special closed inquiry into Mr Mugabe's controversial "Operation Murambatsvina" (Shona for "Drive out rubbish").

Witnesses in Harare said police armed with batons and riot shields prevented aid workers and residents from entering the Porta Farm township, where earthmovers were seen levelling houses, prefabricated cabins and shacks.

The security council has begun hearing a briefing by Anna Tibaijuka, who, as the special envoy of Kofi Annan, visited Zimbabwe for two weeks and issued a damning report, released last Friday, which said the housing demolitions were causing "untold suffering" and making 700,000 Zimbabweans homeless or jobless.

Ms Tibaijuka's report said the forced evictions constituted "a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions", and demanded that "the culprits who have caused this man-made disaster be brought to book". Mr Mugabe's government had "unleashed chaos", it said.

In Harare, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change claimed that demolitions were continuing in all Zimbabwe's cities. "The Mugabe regime is not relenting," the MDC said in a statement.

Mr Mugabe, currently in Beijing, dismissed possible security council censure, saying Zimbabwe would be protected by the Chinese vote. "China will never allow that nonsense to happen. China is our great friend," said Mr Mugabe, according to the official state newspaper, the Herald.

China, Russia and Algeria indicated they would vote against a session devoted to the Zimbabwe issue, but the decision will be by a majority of the security council.

Mr Mugabe also launched an attack on Ms Tibaijuka, who as the head of the UN housing agency Habitat is the highest ranking African woman in the UN administration. He claimed she had told him when she met him in Harare that she was forced to deliver a critical report.

"She told me that her hands were tied and that the report was going to be negative," the Herald quoted Mr Mugabe as saying.

"Comrade Mugabe said Ms Tibaijuka told him that certain people had been planted in her assessment mission to ensure that the report was damning."

Mr Annan's office yesterday rejected Mr Mugabe's claims as "unfounded"

"Ms Tibaijuka carried out the investigations herself and she wrote the report. The report stands for itself," said a UN spokesperson.

Mr Annan has said he would like to visit Zimbabwe for talks with Mr Mugabe on the report. But yesterday in New York he said the halt to demolitions is a strict precondition.

South Africa indicated yesterday that it may take over some of the country's huge foreign debt. In a statement, the ruling African National Congress urged other countries to act on the UN recommendations to increase international assistance to the most vulnerable in Zimbabwe.

The ANC also appealed to people to support the efforts of the South African Council of Churches, which plans to send blankets, food, water and medicine next week as part of its "Operation Hope for Zimbabwe".

The church group said the relief effort was being coordinated with church groups and charities rather than the Zimbabwean government.

Opposition leaders claim the demolitions are intended to break up their strongholds among the urban poor and drive their supporters into rural areas, where they can be more easily controlled by government-allied chiefs.