HARARE Thabo Mbeki, the South African President, held more than three hours of talks with President Mugabe of Zimbabwe about the country's post-election crisis as doctors reported a surge in violent attacks. Mr Mbeki would not comment as he left State House for the South African Embassy.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which won control of Parliament and whose leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won a first-round victory against Mr Mugabe in an election on March 29, has called for Mr Mbeki to be dropped as a mediator by southern Africa nations because of his softly-softly approach.

As the two leaders held talks, a coalition of doctors said that there has been an escalation of attacks in rural areas by Mugabe supporters, pointing the finger directly at his security services. There have been more than 900 reported attacks but the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said that the real figure was many times higher. The MDC said that 30 supporters had been killed by Mugabe followers since election day. (AFP)

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