Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had sharp words for Prime Minister Gordon Brown after the British leader issued his second call in as many days for the release of results from Zimbabwe's March 29 elections. ( dpa )
"Brown is the world?" the 84-year-old Zimbabwean leader asked rhetorically following a meeting in Harare with South African President Thabo Mbeki.
"Brown is a little tiny dot in this world," he said scathingly.
Mugabe was reacting to Brown's call for the official results of the presidential elections, in which opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has already claimed victory over Mugabe, but Mugabe's party is calling for a runoff, saying neither won outright.
"The whole eyes of the world are on Zimbabwe," Brown said, urging "proper international monitoring" if the election goes to a second round.
Mugabe met Mbeki before the South African leader flew to Zambia for an emergency meeting of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community on the tensions in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe is boycotting the summit, which Tsvangirai is attending and which is expected to call for the urgent release of the election results.
"Sometimes we have other business that holds us back," Mugabe told reporters, assuring his no-show in Zambia was not a snub to his neighbours, who were still his "very good friends," his "brothers."