A 15-year-old boy and security guard have been crushed to death in a stampede for sugar in Zimbabwe amid growing food shortages caused by a government order to slash prices.

But despite more evidence of an economic meltdown within Zimbabwe, with inflation now up to 9,000 per cent, leaders of the surrounding African nations today greeted Robert Mugabe with cheers, applause and laughter as he arrived at a regional summit and refused to make any kind of stand against the President.

News of the stampede was reported in Zimbabwe's state-owned Chronicle newspaper this morning, as leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in Lusaka.

The newspaper said that several people were also injured in the incident, which took place at the Entumbane Shopping Centre in the country's second city of Bulawayo.

The 35-year-old security guard, who was not officially identified, died at the scene when a crowd of people trying to get into the shopping centre pushed over a brick pillar, crushing him, the newspaper said.

The unnamed schoolboy, meanwhile, died after being admitted to hospital with two fractured legs and a broken arm.

Food queues and occasional stampedes have been reported all over Zimbabwe since a Government order slashing prices of all goods by half was imposed last June.

It has led to acute shortages of cornmeal, bread, meat, petrol and other basic commodities, leading to panic-buying and hoarding.

Enos Luphahla, who witnessed the scene, told the newspaper that the security guard was unlocking the gate when people started pushing forward.

"When he saw the number of people pushing the gate, he sensed danger and hid behind the pillar between the two gates. The pressure was, however, too much for the wall and it fell on him and was trapped under the pillar," he told the Chronicle.

"Part of the wall also fell on a boy who was also intending to buy sugar. Instead of rescuing those who had been trapped, people trampled on the pillar in a bid to be the first in the queue.

"Some people also fell as they ran towards the shops, resulting in them being trampled on and several people were injured in the process."

The incident further illustrated the rapid economic degeneration of Zimbabwe. However Mr Mugabe, who is widely accused of presiding over the widespread disintegration of the country's economy and agriculture industry, was greeted with cheers when he arrived in Lusaka today.

Mr Mugabe, who has led the country for 27 years since its independence from Britain, sat next to South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is leading a regional effort to mediate a political truce between the Zimbabwean leader and his political opposition, the Democratic Movement for Change (DMC).

However, Fred Bridgland, a correspondent for The Times in Johannesburg, said today that Mr Mugabe's Government had already discounted becoming involved in any discussions with the DMC, and so efforts to mediate would be stillborn.

"No-one is taking a stand against Mugabe. Extraordinarily, the African leaders still seem to regard him as a hero for having thumbed his nose at the British while completely discounting the terrible crisis his country finds itself in," he said.

"It is an utterly depressing scene, and as it looks at the moment things will only get worse."

He added that South Africa, in particular, was suffering the impact of the rapidly deteriorating economic situation of Zimbabwe, once known as the breadbasket of Africa.

"As many as three million refugees have come across the border from Zimbabwe to South Africa, and still no-one takes any action," he said. "People are leaving the sinking ship like rats."

The economic crisis is largely blamed on the seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms that began in 2000, disrupting Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy.

Government opponents have also been subjected to police beatings, raids on their offices and repeated arrests.

The US and European Union have slapped asset-freezes and a travel bans on Mr Mugabe and his top associates, but African leaders have repeatedly refused to take any action despite appeals from opposition leaders.

Times Recommends

• Tiger ‘was fleeing his angry wife’
• Cabal seizes diamond riches to buy power
• White House gatecrashers got to the president