Brown makes stand against Mugabe

Gordon Brown has said he will boycott a meeting of EU and African leaders later this year if the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe attends.

He will also ask the United Nations Security Council to send an humanitarian mission to the ravaged African country.

The Prime Minister called on fellow world leaders to bring more pressure to bear on the Harare regime which has left the southern African country in the grip of an economic and humanitarian catastrophe.

Mr Brown said: "This is a tragedy that requires the whole of the world to speak up and act.

"And that's why next week at the Security Council we'll be asking for a UN envoy to look at humanitarian assistance.

"That's why also we want an EU envoy to look and report on the situation. That's why we are stepping up humanitarian aid today in response to what what we have now seen."

Already Zimbabwe's second biggest donor, the UK will provide an additional £8 million to be delivered through the World Food Programme.

The Prime Minister's intervention on Zimbabwe follows growing pressure to act, particularly from Archbishop of York John Sentamu and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The plight of Zimbabweans has come to the fore in recent weeks as the economic crisis has escalated, with spiralling inflation resulting in chronic food shortages and a deepening refugee crisis.

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