African Union leaders ended their summit in Egypt yesterday refusing to condemn President Mugabe, cementing his hold on power even as they urged the establishment of a national unity government in Zimbabwe.

“He has come here as President of Zimbabwe. He will go home as President of Zimbabwe,” George Charamba, Mr Mugabe’s spokesman, said.

The AU’s final resolution fell short of the full censure sought by the Zimbabwean Opposition and came as both camps signalled that any prospect of talks leading to possible powersharing had faded.

Representatives from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said that they were disappointed with the AU’s inaction, with one senior member calling it an “empty gesture”. Last week Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC’s leader, said that negotiations with Zanu (PF) could only take place before the run-off election and that he would not talk to Mr Mugabe after it.

The resolution on Zimbabwe said that the AU was concerned with the situation and would encourage Mr Mugabe to initiate dialogue with Mr Tsvangirai “for the creation of a government of national unity”. It said: “The AU remains convinced that the people of Zimbabwe will be able to resolve their differences and work together once again as one nation.”

But the statement stood in stark contrast to Western critics who have called for Mr Mugabe to be ousted and have moved to isolate his Government. Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, said at the summit that Mr Mugabe must be ejected from any power-sharing deal if the country were to receive economic aid from Britain. Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister, said that the EU would only accept a Zimbabwean government that was headed by Mr Tsvangirai.

Signs of a split within the AU emerged as sources claimed that Nigeria and Senegal wanted any power-sharing deal to be based on the results of Zimbabwe’s first-round election, won by Mr Tsvangirai. The Botswana delegation even called for Zimbabwe to be kicked out of the AU.

But the apparent lack of willingness from most African leaders to condemn Mr Mugabe has appeared to make him bolder. The Zimbabwean leader said through a spokesman that the West could “go hang a thousand times. They have no basis, no claim on Zimbabwean politics at all.”

Mr Mugabe emerged from the summit holding the upper hand in any future negotiations with Mr Tsvangirai, who yesterday left the Dutch Embassy in Harare, where he had sought refuge from the violence. The AU resolution endorsed at the summit did not specify the opposition’s role in a unity government, nor did it say whether it should hold executive powers.

George Sibotshiwe, an MDC spokesman, told The Times: “We presented our case to all of the heads of states. There is nothing more we can do.” The MDC issued a statement from Harare saying: “There are no talks or discussions taking place between the two parties and most importantly, there is no agreement in the offing.”

Mr Mugabe’s spokesman rejected a power-sharing deal similar to that reached in Kenya after the violence that followed a disputed election. “We have our own history of evolving dialogue and resolving political impasses the Zimbabwean way. The Zimbabwean way, not the Kenyan way. Not at all,” Mr Charamba said.

He attacked Raila Odinga, the Kenyan Prime Minister, who has called for Mr Mugabe to be expelled from the AU. “Odinga’s hands drip with blood, raw African blood. And that blood is not going to be cleansed by any amount of abuse of Zimbabwe,” Mr Charamba added.

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