Zimbabwe’s opposition leader called yesterday for President Mbeki of South Africa to stand down as international mediator in the Zimbabwean post-election crisis, condemning him for inaction in the face of an escalating emergency.

Morgan Tsvangirai’s damning call — his first explicit attack on Mr Mbeki — came as international pressure continued to grow not only on the Zimbabwean Government, but also on Africa as a whole to bring an end to the crisis.

The South African Government, in a clear repudiation of its President’s softly-softly policy, labelled the situation “dire”, while Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, called on Africa to “step up” to the “abomination” of President Mugabe’s rule.

The Zimbabwean Government upped the ante by accusing Mr Tsvangirai of “treason”, alleging that he has tried to persuade Britain to launch a military invasion.

Speaking on a diplomatic mission to Johannesburg, Mr Tsvangirai gave a warning that Zimbabwe was facing its “darkest hour” since independence 28 years ago today, before calling for Mr Mbeki to be replaced.

“We want to thank President Mbeki for all of his efforts but President Mbeki needs to be relieved of his duties,” he told reporters on a visit to Johannesburg.

The continent has largely taken its cue from Mr Mbeki, who has faced fierce criticism, even from within his own ruling party, for his passive approach to Zimbabwe’s collapse.

Mr Tsvangirai said that he would like to see the South African leader replaced by President Mwanawasa of Zambia, the region’s fiercest critic of Mr Mugabe.

“I made a specific request to President Mwanawasa to say he needs to lead a new initiative, an initiative that will expand beyond that of Mr Mbeki,” Mr Tsvangirai said.

Mr Mwanawasa convened an emergency meeting of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community last weekend to formulate a regional initiative on Zimbabwe. But the meeting ended with little progress, and a weak statement after Mr Mbeki refused to acknowledge a crisis in the country and vetoed a resolution critical of Mr Mugabe.

Mr Mbeki has long seen Mr Mugabe as a fellow traveller in the liberation war against white rule, making him reluctant to criticise him directly. But Southern Africa’s entire doctrine of non-interference looked under siege yesterday as the calls grew for Zimbabwe’s neighbours to intervene.

Almost three weeks since the presidential elections, no results have been released and a protracted legal battle has erupted over recounting, with fears mounting that as the weeks go on, massive electoral fraud is under way.

Mr Tsvangirai, who leads the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, claimed to have won the election outright but the Government has insisted that a second-round run-off will be needed, and militias backed by the army and government have unleashed a campaign of terror against the opposition, particularly in rural areas, in an attempt to lock down that vote.

Frustrations with Mr Mbeki’s hands-off policy heightened yesterday as news emerged that South Africa had granted permission for the overland transit of Chinese-made weaponry ordered by the Zimbabwean military days after the election and ferried into Durban on a Chinese-owned ship.

The South African Beeld newspaper reported that the ship was carrying nearly three million rounds of ammunitions for small arms and AK47s, about 3,500 mortars and mortar launchers, as well as 1,500 rockets for rocket-propelled grenades. The paper said that it had a copy of the ship’s cargo documentation, finalised on April 1 — three days after the election.

AfriForum, a regional business lobby group, said that it would organise protests along the shipment’s route. “The South African Government’s approval for the transport of the arms across South African territory will in effect mean that the Government is replacing its ineffective policy of ‘silent diplomacy’ with an even more catastrophic policy of complicity to the state violence and human rights violations committed by the Zimbabwean Government against its own citizens,” Kallie Kriel, its spokesman, said.

Mr Tsvangirai, describing the militia campaign as “an orgy of violence against the people”, suggested that the only way to halt it might be the threat of prosecution before an international court.

“I think the current wave of violence against the people must stop and the only way to stop is that those who are committing those crimes must know that they must be answerable one day,” he said.

International frustration over the stance of regional leaders has burst into the open. Dr Rice chimed in yesterday to insist that it was “time for Africa to step up”. “Where is the concern from the African Union and from Zimbabwe’s neighbours about what is going on?” she asked.

In an address to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Gordon Brown said “no one thinks” Mr Mugabe won the presidential election. That intervention brought an angry response from Harare and allegations that Britain was colluding with Mr Tsvangirai to topple Mr Mugabe.

The state-run Herald newspaper, the mouthpiece of the regime, printed a letter that it said showed Mr Tsvangirai begging for military intervention, as well as one purporting to be a reply to the opposition leader from Mr Brown. “It is clear from the correspondence that Tsvangirai along with Brown are seeking an illegal regime change in Zimbabwe and on the part of Mr Tsvangirai this is treasonous,” Patrick Chinamasa, the Justice Minister, was quoted as saying.

The British Embassy responded with an unusually strongly worded statement, denouncing the correspondence as forgeries. “It reflects this regime’s desperation that Zanu (PF) \ and the state-controlled media have resorted to faking documents for crude propaganda purposes, and not for the first time.”

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