The horrors of Zimbabwe’s political violence will not feature on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council meeting today. Thanks to South Africa, which blocked an attempt to put the crisis on the agenda, the council will discuss only the dire humanitarian situation.

It is hard to see how the two can be divorced. The deliberate displacement of thousands of people, the militarisation of food aid and the ban on international aid agencies are all political tactics that have greatly deepened Zimbabwe’s suffering.

The US and Britain are furious with South Africa’s block, achieved with Russia’s help. They had lobbied to raise the Zimbabwean crisis as an urgent matter after embassy staff who met victims in the countryside were detained and harassed.

But President Mbeki is determined to keep Zimbabwe off the international agenda, insisting that it is a problem for Africans to solve. Relations within his own regional grouping, the Southern African Development Community, however, are splintering over his attempts to prevent them from doing exactly that.

Yesterday Mr Mbeki publicly denounced Zimbabwe’s violence for the first time, calling it a matter of “serious concern”. Yet he failed to lay blame on the Mugabe regime. This suits Harare fine. In President Mugabe’s parallel universe, it is the Opposition that is terrorising the people – not his party. Mr Mbeki’s statement seeks to have it both ways.

President Mbeki still appears to believe that he can settle the crisis. His officials are said to have brokered talks between the Movement for Democratic Change and Zanu (PF) to form a government of national unity. But neither side is likely to accept the role of junior partner, so the process will almost certainly fail.

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