Miliband: Mugabe must go

Updated 20.16 Sun Jul 06 2008

David Miliband has said it is "imperative" that Robert Mugabe is removed from power in Zimbabwe.

The foreign secretary called on the international community to unite in condemning the re-election of the Zimbabwean president in a poll on March 29 widely criticised as a sham.

Mr Miliband, who is in South Africa for talks with the government, visited a church in Johannesburg that houses thousands of refugees from neighbouring Zimbabwe

Mr Miliband, who is in South Africa for talks with the government, visited a church in Johannesburg that houses thousands of refugees from neighbouring Zimbabwe.

He said: "No one who meets the people here could do anything other than redouble their efforts to secure international consensus that the Mugabe regime is not a legitimate representation of the will of the people of Zimbabwe.

"It is imperative that a government be formed with respect to the March 29 result because this is now a crisis and it's affecting the whole of southern Africa."

Mr Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 28 years, has been defiant in the face of growing condemnation from Western governments and some African neighbours.

But President Thabo Mbeki of regional powerhouse South Africa has been criticised for his "quiet diplomacy" approach to the crisis.