African leaders were last night closeted in Egypt attempting to hammer a way out of the crisis in Zimbabwe, where the opposition feared it was being frozen out of a possible coalition deal.

Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe president, met Thabo Mbeki, the South African president and regional mediator on the crisis, on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Sharm el-Sheikh. Mr Mugabe later addressed a closed session of the AU, whose leaders were split on how to respond to questions about his legitimacy after last Friday's widely derided presidential run-off election in which he was the only candidate.