Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, saw the last vestiges of international support slipping away yesterday after the United Nations Security Council, including fellow African states, unanimously condemned his campaign of violence against the opposition and called on him to abandon Friday's run-off vote.

In South Africa, Jacob Zuma, ruling party leader and the country's likely next president, said the situation in Zimbabwe "has gone out of hand, out of control". He said South Africa could no longer support the actions of Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF.