Gordon Brown will continue to put his faith in Zimbabwe’s neighbours to help to resolve the crisis there, despite growing international condemnation of President Mugabe.

Mr Brown began preparing yesterday for meetings at the United Nations on Wednesday with President Mbeki of South Africa and Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General. He is unlikely to push for a resolution authorising mediation in Zimbabwe.

The Prime Minister’s stance will dismay those calling for the international community to take a tough line against the Mugabe regime. Hopes that Zimbabwe’s neighbours would act to end the deepening crisis were dashed yesterday when an all-night emergency summit of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) failed to acknowledge an emergency and called only for the immediate release of election results.

Even that call looked toothless as Zimbabwe announced that there would be a recount of results in 23 constituencies, 22 of them at the demand of the ruling Zanu (PF) party.

SADC leaders talked through the night in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, to try to reach agreement on what they could do about the election impasse. Mr Mugabe’s eleventh-hour withdrawal from the summit had raised hopes among the contingent from Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that their voices would be better heard in his absence.

But the surprise arrival in Harare of President Mbeki only hours before the summit meant that Mr Mugabe’s case was well heard. Western diplomats, who were instrumental in setting up the summit, were appalled to hear Mr Mbeki announce that there was “no crisis in Zimbabwe” after his meeting with Mr Mugabe — a sentiment later echoed by Zambia, previously the strongest critic of Mr Mugabe in the region.

There were signs that the official South African policy of “quiet diplomacy” with Zimbabwe was also beginning to cause disquiet at home. Balek Mbete, Speaker of the South African National Assembly, said last night that Zimbabwe’s failure to publish election results was an example of a “democratic process gone wrong”. Ms Mbete, who also chairs the ruling ANC, said: “As parliamentarians we cannot remain silent when we witness sufferings and violation of human rights.”

Two weeks after the vote no official presidential results have been announced. Even after yesterday’s announcement of a partial recount, British officials said that Mr Brown still saw the SADC and Mr Mbeki as the keys to progress. An informed source said that whenever Britain had tried to get a UN resolution on Zimbabwe in the past it had failed because of opposition from some members, and that Mr Mugabe had ended up in a stronger position. “We do not want to do anything to undermine SADC and Mr Mbeki,” the source added.

However, Mr Brown used his strongest language against Mr Mugabe at the weekend. He described the situation in Zimbabwe as “appalling” and said that the world’s patience was “running thin”.

For his part, the Zimbabwean leader dismissed Mr Brown as “a little tiny dot on this world”.

Mr Brown said: “The democratic rights of the Zimbabwean people have got to be respected. We cannot wait any longer for the announcement of these results. It is appalling if there is intimidation and violence. It is completely unacceptable and the eyes of the world are on Zimbabwe now.”

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, insisted that there was a “constitutional crisis” in Zimbabwe and that the Mugabe regime lacked legitimacy. “The scale of Morgan Tsvangirai’s lead in the presidential elections may not have been made public.

“However, it is clear that there was a majority of people who voted against President Mugabe, despite the conditions under which the vote was held,” he wrote in a letter to his Tory and Liberal Democrat shadow spokesmen.

“Nine Zimbabwe electoral commission officials have been arrested. There are widespread reports of state-sponsored violence against opposition activists. No one can be in any doubt that these are the measures of a regime whose legitimacy has gone but whose capacity to rule through fear and intimidation, though dented, remains potent.”

Mr Miliband added: “SADC states have most to lose from the continued crisis in Zimbabwe and they need to make clear their interest in swift release of the real results.”

The MDC condemned the partial recount and said they would be challenging it in court. An earlier petition demanding the release of presidential results is to be ruled on today, but with the presiding judge under increasing pressure, hopes of a resolution were not high. The electoral commission announced that recounts of parliamentary and presidential results would take place next Saturday, delaying matters for at least another week.

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