ROBERT MUGABE, Zimbabwe's president, saw the last vestiges of international support slipping away yesterday after the United Nations' Security Council, including fellow African states, unanimously condemned his campaign of violence against the opposition and called on him to abandon Friday's run-off vote.
The council will consider further steps on Zimbabwe if Harare ignores a council statement declaring a free and fair election run-off impossible, US ambassador and president of the council Zalmay Khalilzad said. He declined to be drawn on what steps the body might take.
In South Africa, Jacob Zuma, ruling party leader and the country's likely next president, said the situation in Zimbabwe "has gone out of hand, out of control". He said South Africa could no longer support the actions of Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF.
The US state department said the international community will reject any attempt by Mr Mugabe to declare himself president if he goes ahead with the planned run-off. "If the election takes place and Mugabe stands up there and declares himself president again on the basis of that, I think it's going to be uniformly rejected by the international community," said state department spokesman Tom Casey.
Cosatu, the influential South African trade union federation, issued a statement demanding that leaders in neighbouring states "withdraw their recognition of a 'government' that has no mandate to rule following their defeat [in the first round] but is clinging to power by brute force".
The previous insistence of South Africa on solving the crisis through regional mediation had screened Mr Mugabe from concerted UN condemnation.
South Africa, China, Russia and other council states had resisted action on the grounds that the unrest was an internal matter. After intensive consultations, diplomats of all 15 member states signed up to a statement that included concern over the impact of the crisis on the region. Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's president, is under increased pressure at home and abroad to speak out against abuses by the Mugabe regime.
The final security council statement fell short of a UK draft that would have removed international legitimacy from Mr Mugabe and handed it to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change on the basis of a first round of voting on March 29th. - (Financial Times service)