Britain to press EU for wider list of sanctions

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Britain will today urge the European Union to tighten its sanctions against Zimbabwe in response to Robert Mugabe "stealing" the country's presidential election.

Tony Blair will urge fellow EU leaders at their two-day summit in Barcelona to extend the list of 20 leading figures in the Mugabe regime who are banned from travelling to the EU and whose assets there are frozen. The new names would include people who played a prominent role in the election.

The European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg yesterday, passed a resolution urging all 15 EU member states to refuse to recognise the election's legitimacy.

Britain will not act unilaterally on sanctions, believing it is more effective to win joint action by all EU countries.

At its weekly meeting, the Cabinet agreed any further sanctions should not harm ordinary people. Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, said it was important for Britain's humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe to continue.

Britain is also lobbying hard behind the scenes for the Commonwealth to suspend Zimbabwe, as Mr Blair urged unsuccessfully at this month's Commonwealth summit in Australia. Ministers hope that yesterday's preliminary report on the election by Commonwealth observers will finally tip the balance in favour of suspension.

The observers found thousands of people were disenfranchised and conditions did not allow "for a free expression of will by the electors".

In a Commons statement, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, accused Mr Mugabe of heading an "undemocratic and illegitimate government".

He said: "The Zimbabwean government has subjected its electorate to two years of violence and intimidation. It has exploited every instrument of the state to distort the electoral process: military, police, media, youth militias and the bureaucracy.

"The failure of the electoral process in Zimbabwe is a tragedy not just for Zimbabwe but for the people of southern Africa as a whole ... Change will have to come to Zimbabwe."

He rejected claims that African nations were rallying behind President Mugabe.

"Most of Africa was shamed by what Mugabe has done and thankfully they are now saying that," he said.

Michael Ancram, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said Mr Straw should have gone further by refusing to recognise the result of the election.

He accused the Government of leaving it too late to rally international support for action against the Mugabe regime and said its policy of "words not action" and "quiet diplomacy" should now be abandoned.