International efforts to end Zimbabwe's misery by forcing President Mugabe out of office were blunted yesterday when a key African leader urged further mediation despite the power-sharing impasse in Harare.

As President Sarkozy of France called for a swift end to the Mugabe regime, Jacob Zuma, the head of South Africa's ruling ANC party, insisted that dialogue was still the best way forward.

“President Mugabe must go,” Mr Sarkozy said in an address in Paris to The Elders, an independent group of statesmen and women who were recently refused visas to travel to Zimbabwe. His call followed similar demands from Britain and the US, as well as Raila Odinga, the Kenyan Prime Minister, at the weekend.

Mr Zuma, who is expected to be elected as South African president next year, recognised the urgency of the Zimbabwean crisis, but offered a radically different solution. “We need some swift action to deal with the situation.” he said at the opening of talks in Windhoek with President Pohamba of Namibia. “We fully support Thabo Mbeki's mediation efforts and we urge the Zimbabwe leadership to act and ... pave the way for a unity government.”

Mr Mugabe signed a power-sharing deal with Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, on September 15, but has since reneged on the agreement, giving the Opposition just one ministry in the so-called unity Government. In the past, Mr Zuma criticised Mr Mbeki for siding with the Mugabe regime in the talks that he mediated.

The EU stepped up the pressure on Harare, adding 11 names to the list of Zimbabwean figures banned from entering Europe. The new names, described by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, as “middle-ranking members of the regime”, were added to 168 already on the personae non gratae list, including Mr Mugabe and his wife Grace.

Mr Miliband said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers that Britain would make another attempt to secure a UN Security Council resolution but cautioned that it could be difficult given strong opposition from Russia and China.

Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, followed suit with an appeal to African nations to work together to remove President Mugabe. “The moment has arrived to put all the pressure for Mugabe to step down and give the opportunity once again to the people of Zimbabwe to get their life together and begin to move the country forward,” Mr Solana said.

The rift in international efforts to ease Zimbabwe's plight came as the confirmed death toll from a cholera outbreak reached 575.

More than 12,000 people have already been afflicted in the outbreak, which was triggered in part by the breakdown in the country's infrastructure and healthcare system, as well as a dire shortage of fresh water.

Prices of goods double every 24 hours, and 100 million Zimbabwean dollars - the maximum permitted weekly bank withdrawal - buys only three loaves of bread.

“There is a crying need for change in Zimbabwe,” Mr Miliband said. “I think there was unity around the table today that while cholera has got the headlines, the real disease at the heart of Zimbabwe is the misrule by the Mugabe regime.”

He said that he had spoken with the presidency of the UN Security Council, currently held by Croatia, about a new resolution on Zimbabwe. Asked if that would include the possibility of direct intervention, he said: “We were rebuffed in July on the subject of targeted financial and travel sanctions on individuals at the UN, so it is a bit premature to talk about that.”

Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, and Dr Desmond Tutu, the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, have also called on Mr Mugabe to stand down, as has Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary-General, and David Cameron, the Tory leader, who called for the international community to consider a fuel blockade.

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