The international pressure on Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, is growing, but there is no sign yet that the 85-year-old leader is any nearer to relinquishing control of a country that is plunging ever deeper into economic chaos and humanitarian crisis.

Mr Mugabe in fact has been as belligerent as ever. After telling the annual congress of his Zanu-PF party on Sunday that he would “never, never, never surrender”, he again blamed foreigners for his country’s problems and called for “a real economic revolutionary council to take control of Zimbabwe’s mining, manufacturing and banking sectors”.