President Robert Mugabe was forced to sit through unprecedented criticism of his policies by neighbouring heads of state at the opening of a regional summit here yesterday.
"We are very concerned about the worsening economy, the decline in the rule of law and the spread of violence and political instability in Zimbabwe," said the Malawian president, Mr Bakili Muluzi, the chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), as he opened the two-day summit attended by the presidents of South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Botswana.
He said that if the crisis was not solved urgently and amicably it could affect much-needed foreign investment across the region.
Mr Mugabe's supporters, especially the self-styled war veterans, were clearly angered. Their leader, Mr Joseph Chinotimba, said the speech was written by the British government.
It is the first time such wide-ranging criticism of one head of state's policies has been aired by fellow leaders in the SADC, a usually collegial group of 15 southern African states.
The SADC leaders had insisted that Mr Mugabe meet them because of the gravity of the crisis but stepped up pressure even further by asking to meet representatives of the opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), white farmers and other civic groups.
Scrambling to limit the damage, the Mugabe regime refused accreditation to some foreign journalists yesterday. The summit follows the Commonwealth meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, last week at which Britain pledged £36 million for land reform, so long as Harare halted the violence and restored law and democracy.
Political violence and claims of flagrant vote-rigging in the southern city of Bulawayo marred municipal elections at the weekend. Top MDC officials were fired upon on Sunday night and had to hide under cars for safety. Despite the violence the MDC won all seven council seats and won the post of mayor, according to reports last night.
Reuters reports from Kano, Nigeria: Thousands of Muslim youths in Nigeria's northern city of Kano set a church and cars on fire yesterday as fresh violence erupted between Muslims and Christian in the central city of Jos.
Tension heightened as more than 5,000 militant Muslim youths took over major city streets, threatening to avenge the deaths of Muslims in the central city of Jos in three days of religious and ethnic clashes in which at least 51 people were killed.
"They (the youths) just came in with their weapons and petrol in cans and asked everybody out before setting the church ablaze," said the church's pastor, Mr James Alalade. "Nobody could stop them, they were heavily armed."
The demonstrators barricaded the main entrance of the Kano state government house for several hours and dispersed only after senior government officials addressed them, witnesses said.
The police denied the protest in Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city, was ignited by the sectarian bloodletting in Jos.
Thousands of people have fled the religious riots in Jos. A government statement put the death toll at 51 as of midday Sunday, and said more than 500 had been wounded. The figure was way below estimates by residents who said the total number of deaths could be in the hundreds.
Scores of bodies could still be seen in the streets yesterday and three military trucks were seen to pull up at the main hospital mortuary bringing in more bodies.
The trigger for the violence was a quarrel between Christians and Muslims after last Friday's Muslim prayers.