Morgan Tsvangirai took refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare to escape soldiers sent by Robert Mugabe to raid his home on Sunday, the President of Senegal said today.

President Abdoulaye Wade said that Mr Tsvangirai had been fleeing soldiers who "went after him" at his home, and was only able to escape because he had a few minutes' warning.

George Sibotshiwe, a Tsvangirai aide, later confirmed the story, adding that although it wasn't clear what the troops had wanted, "the moment you have soldiers coming your way, you just run for your life".

But Mr Mugabe's officials, speaking after the United Nations Security Council condemned the regime's campaign of violence against opposition supporters, insisted that Mr Tsvangirai's flight into the embassy was mere political posturing.

"It is obviously a calculated move to besmirch the presidential run-off election... and further brutalise the image of Zimbabwe," said Augustine Chihuri, the Zimbabwean police commissioner.

Speaking from the embassy, Mr Tsvangirai today hailed the Security Council's condemnation of the electoral violence as a "very important" step.

In a statement agreed late last night, the 15-nation Security Council said that a free and fair election was impossible because of the Mugabe regime's brutal intimidation of opponents, and the restrictions placed on campaigning.

It called for political prisoners to be freed and for the results of the first round of the elections on March 29 – which Mr Tsvangirai won, although not with an overall majority according to official figures – to be respected.

It was the first time that the Security Council, which includes South Africa, Russia and China who have blocked previous attempts to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe, had managed to agree a joint statement about the turmoil.

Today the leaders of Senegal and Botswana, and Jacob Zuma, the leader of South Africa's ruling ANC, added their voices, calling on Mr Mugabe to postpone the presidential run-off.

Friday's vote seems likely to provide a hollow, walkover victory for Mr Mugabe, after Mr Tsvangirai withdrew on Sunday He said he could not risk any more of his supporters' lives, in the face of state-sponsored killings, torture, beatings and forced re-education camps. An estimated 90 have died so far.

"I think (the Security Council statement) is a very important resolution," said Mr Tsvangirai today. "It recognises the people who are accountable for the violence, and it squarely places that responsibility on Mugabe's leadership... I am sure he can no longer remain defiant to that international position."

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