The UK must push for tougher sanctions against Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe, the Conservatives have urged.

There is a real crisis impending and it's all politically made by Mugabe

Michael Ancram

Existing "targeted sanctions" are regarded as a "mockery", shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram has claimed.

And unless more is done to loosen Mr Mugabe's "iron grip" on agriculture, the country will slide into famine.

Mr Ancram, who has just returned from a covert visit to Zimbabwe, urged Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to push for tighter sanctions when he meets his EU counterparts on Monday.

Extending sanctions

At the moment, Mr Mugabe and 19 government and military officials have had their European assets frozen and are prevented from travelling to Europe.

Ancram: "World cannot turn its back"

But Mr Ancram said the measures were not working, and Mr Mugabe was able to attend a world hunger summit in Rome earlier this year because it was under the auspices of the United Nations.

The Zimbabwean leader is currently visiting Cuba.

Zimbabwe's opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), wants sanctions to be extended to other individuals, including Mugabe's business backers.

'Crisis'

Mr Ancram, who during his visit last week met MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said the food situation in Zimbabwe was at crisis point.

We do see a case for extending the sanctions

Foreign Office spokesman

"I saw fields which are not prepared to be sown, I saw wheat fields with no wheat in them, and on the other side I saw all the early signs of famine," he told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme.

"I saw 100 of the 85,000 black farm workers who have been thrown off the farms without food without possessions, without homes.

"There is a real crisis impending and it's all politically made by Mugabe.

"What is important is to try and ensure that the pressure is brought to bear on Robert Mugabe and his henchmen.

"I hope that the European ministers meeting tomorrow (Monday) in Brussels will look again at the targeted sanctions which have been imposed which are simply not working and which are regarded as a sort of mockery in Zimbabwe to tighten them up."

Timing

Mr Mugabe and his officials must be made to understand that "the international community is not going to stand by and watch this horrific crisis unfold".

Mr Ancram added: "This famine is going to be made worse in South Africa, in Botswana, in Malawi and other countries because of what Robert Mugabe's doing in Zimbabwe.

"This is a political crisis for all the black people in Zimbabwe and around Zimbabwe as well. The world cannot turn its back on it."

A Foreign Office spokesman said Zimbabwe would be on the agenda at the General Affairs Council (GAC) meeting in Brussels.

"We do see a case for extending the sanctions but such a step and its timing will have to be discussed by all EU partners possibly at this GAC, possibly at a future one," he added.