Robert Mugabe sworn in as Zimbabwe president

Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president of Zimbabwe today after being declared the winner of last week's discredited poll.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced that Mugabe won 85% of the vote in what was, in effect, a one-horse race.

The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the contest, declined an invitation to attend Mugabe's hastily-organised inauguration ceremony.

International condemnation of the election and the ongoing violence in Zimbabwe has continued.

The British foreign office minister Lord Malloch-Brown today said African nations should "do whatever it takes" to get rid of Mugabe. He suggested military intervention in Zimbabwe could be necessary if the violence increased.

Malloch-Brown was speaking ahead of a meeting of African Union (AU) foreign ministers in the Egyptian town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The meeting comes as African observers in Zimbabwe said the election was not free and fair and supporters of Mugabe were beating people who couldn't prove they voted.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the international community should consider using force to intervene in the country. He said "a very good argument" could be made for a military presence.

In an interview with the BBC, Malloch-Brown said: "If law and order breaks down in the country or if Mugabe is utterly resistant to change and continues to oppress violently people's human rights, then I hope the African neighbours will do whatever it takes to secure his departure."

"What you cannot accept is the status quo continuing - President Mugabe has to go."

The minister also suggested that some form of national unity government may be required, but said this was up to Tsvangirai.

"Morgan Tsvangirai won the last honest vote. He should be the senior partner. If he wants to invite some people from the Mugabe party in that is fine," Malloch-Brown said.

Tutu said AU leaders should refuse to recognise Mugabe as the legitimate president of Zimbabwe. He told the BBC: "I think a very good argument can be made for having an international force to restore peace."

Kenya's prime minister, Raila Odinga, backed such calls in a speech yesterday.

"We want the African Union to send troops to Zimbabwe. The time has come for the African continent to stand firm in unity to end dictatorship," Reuters quoted Odinga as saying.

Meanwhile, African observers called for a re-run of Friday's poll, to ensure it was free and fair.

"Conditions should be put in place for the holding of free, fair and credible elections as soon as possible in line with the African Union declaration on the principles governing democratic elections," Marwick Khumalo, head of the Pan-African parliament observer team, said at a press conference today, according to Reuters.

Human Rights Watch said it has evidence that Mugabe's supporters are beating people who cannot prove they voted.

Residents in two neighbourhoods in Harare said that in the early hours of yesterday, Mugabe supporters went door to door, forcing people to show their fingers for signs of indelible ink, which shows that a person voted.Those who did not have ink on their fingers were taken away and beaten with batons and thick sticks, Human Rights Watch said.

Others were targeted because their names did not appear on a list compiled by Mugabe's governing Zanu-PF party, that showed who voted.