U.S., Britain want U.N. council to tackle Zimbabwe

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and Britain said on Monday they were determined to push the U.N. Security Council to discuss the worsening situation in Zimbabwe this week, despite strong South African opposition.

Britain accused the government of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe of delaying a the results of the country's March 29 election to try to subvert the outcome.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he won the election and accuses Mugabe of planning violence to overturn the results.

Zimbabwe "will have to come up" in some form at Wednesday's summit meeting of leaders and top officials from the African Union and Security Council member states, British Ambassador to the United Nations John Sawers told Reuters.

This was confirmed by Douglas Alexander, Britain's minister for international development.

The diplomats spoke after British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in London that Zimbabwean authorities were delaying the election results to allow them time to find an "alternative to the will of the people."

A spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, Benjamin Chang, made clear the United States would also press for a Security Council discussion about Zimbabwe's election.

"We consider the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe as a concern for the international community," he said. "We intend to raise that concern on Wednesday."