An African Union summit today tried to overcome divisions on how to deal with the re-election of President Robert Mugabe in a poll condemned around the world. Summit sources said the leaders were divided between those who wanted a strong statement about Zimbabwe and others who were reluctant to publicly censure the veteran leader, who extended his 28-year rule in a one-candidate election last Friday.

Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma, a member of the West and East African group most critical of Mugabe told BBC radio: "The people of Zimbabwe have been denied their democratic rights. We should, in no uncertain terms, condemn what has happened." Koroma said the southern African group must engage Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who withdrew from the ballot because of attacks on his supporters, in talks leading to a transitional government and fresh elections.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change dismissed a South African press report that regional mediator President Thabo Mbeki was close to brokering a deal for Mugabe and Tsvangirai to negotiate a unity government."It is all speculation, there is nothing like that. There's no imminent deal, no negotiations. There cannot be a deal to which we are not party," said MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa.

Mugabe threatened before the summit to confront his critics and suggested he would point back at leaders who themselves were in power undemocratically. In a mark of the depth of divisions within Africa, Charamba accused Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga -- who has called for Mugabe to be expelled from the AU -- of having bloodstained hands from the crisis in his country, in which 1 500 people died.

"Odinga's hands drip with blood, raw African blood. And that blood is not going to be cleansed by any amount of abuse of Zimbabwe. Not at all," he told reporters. The AU traditionally favours consensus and analysts said the divisions might be overcome with a statement that called for negotiations but stopped short of condemning the election or refusing to recognise Mugabe, 84.

"They will dodge the bullet. They won't expressly recognise him but they won't kick him out of the session," a senior delegate told Reuters. Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe in the first round in March, withdrew from the poll after saying government-backed violence had killed nearly 90 supporters. He has called on the summit not to recognise the election.

MDC spokesman Chamisa told Reuters: "We remain optimistic that the summit will not declare Mugabe legitimate, because he doesn't have the mandate of the people." He said the MDC would be disappointed if the summit asked Mbeki to continue mediation, saying they wanted an expanded team. Mbeki has been mediating since last year but has failed to solve the crisis and is accused of being soft on Mugabe. Mugabe was sworn in for a new five-year term on Sunday after election authorities announced he had won more than 85% of the vote in an election which three African monitoring groups said was unfair.

Tesco, one of Britain's biggest supermarket chains, said it would stop buying produce from Zimbabwe to support pressure for an end to its escalating political crisis. African leaders, deeply reluctant to criticise each other publicly, have previously appeared over-awed by Mugabe's status as a hero of the anti-colonial struggle. But the conduct of the election provoked unprecedented criticism from within Africa.

The summit is unlikely to back a US push at the United Nations for sanctions against Mugabe, including an arms embargo. So far only Western powers have imposed financial and travel sanctions against the Zimbabwean leader and his top officials.

China, which has long opposed UN sanctions, said on Tuesday Zimbabwe must solve its own problems and showed no eagerness to endorse the US moves. Together with Russia and South Africa it has diluted Security Council criticism of the election. Charamba attacked Western nations who say Mugabe is an illegitimate leader. "They can go and hang. They can go to hang a million times. They have no claim on Zimbabwean politics."