United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced in Ghana that he is to raise the Zimbabwe crisis with African leaders during his current visit to West Africa.

Arriving in Accra on Saturday for the 12th UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Ban said the situations in Cote d'Ivoire, Darfur and Kenya would also be on his agenda with regional leaders. From Ghana he is scheduled to travel to Liberia, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire.

Ban's announcement on Zimbabwe was made after both he and his predecessor, Kofi Annan, publicly questioned the adequacy of the response of African leaders to the country's post-election impasse.

Ban told a meeting of the UN Security Council and the African Union last week that "the international community continues to watch and wait for decisive action. The credibility of the democratic process in Africa could be at stake here."

Annan reportedly said during a visit to Nairobi, where he mediated in Kenya's election crisis: "The question which has been posed is: where are the Africans? Where are their leaders and the countries in the region, what are they doing? It is a rather dangerous situation. It's a serious crisis with impact beyond Zimbabwe."