Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on the African Union (AU) to send international peacekeepers to Zimbabwe.
The 63-year-old Odinga criticized African leaders for condoning President Robert Mugabe "as if everything was normal." He said millions of people were suffering because of Mugabe's despotic rule.
"Because there is no legitimate government in Zimbabwe, the African Union should consider sending a peacekeeping force," he said.
"The fact that Mugabe was a freedom fighter does not give him rights to own Zimbabwe and hang on to power," Odinga said Sunday evening on arrival in Nairobi from his weekend tour of the coastal city of Mombasa.
"Mugabe is not willing to share power with Morgan Tsvangirai, but wants to monopolize instruments of power. This is the problem in Zimbabwe," he said.
The PM said Africa should stand firm against Mugabe as it was being cast in bad light. He urged African leaders to consider the issue of legitimacy in leadership whenever they look at the situation in Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai won the most votes in March's presidential election but fell short of an outright majority to be elected president. However, his Movement for Democratic Change became the largest party in parliament for the first time.
He pulled out of a run-off against Mugabe, who has been Zimbabwe's top leader since independence from Britain in 1980, accusing the 84-year-old of orchestrating attacks against his opposition supporters.
Odinga, who became Prime Minister under a power-sharing agreement reached with President Mwai Kibaki after disputed elections, has been critical of Mugabe, and other African leaders who Odinga said turn a blind eye to Zimbabwe's suffering.
"What is happening in Zimbabwe could not have happened in Europe. Members of the EU could not allow a leader who was not legitimately elected to attend their meeting. It cannot happen. So this is the reason why Africa continues to remain backward," Odinga said.
"To many African leaders the situation in Zimbabwe has returned to normal. This is because these leaders carry the same baggage like Mugabe," Odinga said.
The Kenyan PM said he doesn't understand why Mugabe was being allowed to share platforms with African leaders in both regional and international forums.
"Recently he was in Kampala attending an African leaders' meeting and you will see that no one expressed a word about the situation in Zimbabwe."
Mugabe and Tsvangirai reached a power-sharing agreement on September 15, but the establishment of an all inclusive government, in which Mugabe will be president and Tsvangirai Prime Minister, has faltered as the two fight over control of key ministries.
Odinga said the recent action by Mugabe's administration to deny visas to international mediators is likely to worsen the crisis in the southern African nation and therefore the need for remedial actions.
Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter were reportedly denied entry into Zimbabwe on Saturday ahead of peace talks slated for Harare.
Zimbabwe has however denied the claims, saying the meeting had only been postponed because Annan had not notified the government of the timing and programme.