Mr Musharraf retorted that he "was not going to beg" for a meeting.. The Taliban Foreign Minister appeared in public yesterday for the first time in more than three weeks to deny that the American bombing campaign had shredded the unity of the hardline Afghan leadership. The Taliban Foreign Minister appeared in public yesterday for the first time in more than three weeks to deny that the American bombing campaign had shredded the unity of the hardline Afghan leadership. Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil met a group of foreign journalists taken to Kandahar, the Taliban's power base, and dismissed the reports of a split, which were fuelled by a secret visit he was said to have made to Islamabad."These reports are being spread by those only to please themselves There is no such thing," Mr Muttawakil said. When pressed on the matter, he repeated to the journalists: "No. Rest assured."Mr Muttawakil was reported to have sent out feelers in Islamabad to the American government about the possible handover of Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the 11 September terror attacks, in return for a slowdown in the bombing campaign.He was notably rumoured to have held talks with generals from Pakistan's intelligence agency hours before Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, held talks with General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani President, on 16 October.

Other reports suggested that Mr Muttawakil, a Taliban moderate, may have defected.He was said to have been in touch with the entourage of Zahir Shah, the former Afghan king, as discussions increased over a post-Taliban regime in Afghanistan. General Powell, during his Pakistani visit, said for the first time that the United States would favour the inclusion of "moderate elements" of the Taliban in a broad coalition government.But Afghans close to the Taliban emphatically denied reports that Mr Muttawakil had visited Islamabad.America is counting on the bombing campaign to produce a rift between supporters and opponents of the Saudi-born Mr bin Laden and his "Foreign Legion" fighters. They hope that would cause the Taliban regime to collapse.Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy who is shuttling around the region in search of a political solution acceptable to all parties, says he has no blueprint for a post-Taliban government. In Islamabad yesterday, the envoy failed to meet the Taliban's representative in the Pakistani capital amid recriminations on both sides.Mr Muttawakil said there appeared to be no room for negotiations to end the conflict. "They [the Americans] have closed all doors to negotiation, they have rejected any possibility of talks," he said, before adding derisively: "It would be better that Blair and Bush come carrying Kalashnikovs and meet with Mullah Omar in a field to prove who will run away."General Musharraf, whose government was the Taliban's main backer until 11 September, has expressed the hope that a revolt among the regime's Pashtun supporters would pave the way for a political solution that would make continuation of the US bombing campaign unnecessary."It's not wishful thinking," he stressed in comments reported on Tuesday "Who is the head of the Pashtun? Not the Taliban. It is a very calculated remark that I am making," he said without elaborating.So far, however, apart from Mr Muttawakil's reported travels, there have been no external signs of wavering among the supporters of the Taliban, who are also resisting military attacks by the Afghan opposition on Taliban-held territory.A legendary mujahedin leader, Abdul Haq, who had returned to Afghanistan to try to provoke a rebellion among Pashtun tribesmen, was betrayed by villagers last week and executed by the Taliban.. Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, has quietly sent a distress call to the United Nations for emergency aid worth about Z$20bn (£200m) to avert a fast-approaching humanitarian disaster caused by shortages of food, foreign currency and fuel.

Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, has quietly sent a distress call to the United Nations for emergency aid worth about Z$20bn (£200m) to avert a fast-approaching humanitarian disaster caused by shortages of food, foreign currency and fuel. Despite voicing anti-British sentiments as international sanctions loom, Mr Mugabe sent Simba Makoni, his Finance Minister, last week to ask Victor Angelo, the United Nations Development Programme representative in Zimbabwe, to appeal to the world community for help, Zimbabwe's top business and financial newspaper, The Financial Gazette, reported.Mr Makoni met Mr Angelo last Wednesday and asked him to help to raise aid from the international community, which Mr Mugabe has angered by allowing his militant supporters to harass the opposition and white farmers and by pursuing his own controversial drive to seize white-owned farmland.The funds would finance the massive maize and wheat import programme necessary if Zimbabweans, whose harvest this year was poor, are not to starve in the next few months.The Financial Gazette reported that Mr Makoni told Mr Angelo that the government needed money to help to repair dilapidated public infrastructure across Zimbabwe, including roads and bridges washed away in floods two years ago.Western diplomatic sources told The Financial Gazette that Mr Mugabe had decided to send Mr Makoni because the Finance Minister was perceived to be more acceptable to Western donor countries than most of his cabinet colleagues.Most donor countries could in two months' time impose sanctions against Mr Mugabe and his government for refusing European Union and American demands to allow inter- national observers to monitor a presidential ballot in Zimbabwe next year.Neither Mr Angelo nor Mr Makoni were available for comment. But a senior Western diplomat in Harare said: "Obviously, Mugabe himself or his Foreign Minister, Stan Mudenge, cannot champion this thing. But even Makoni will also find the politics interfering in what should clearly be treated as a plea for humanitarian assistance. The donors will, for example, want firm guarantees that whatever aid they give should not be used as a campaign tool in the election next year."The sources said Mr Makoni began approaching individual donor countries last week and was briefing other Southern Africa Development Community countries on the humanitarian catastrophe facing Zimbabwe if the world did not quickly offer assistance.Mr Angelo is now expected to convene a conference at which interested donors can pledge what they are prepared to contribute to a basket-fund to help Zimbabwe.International and local agricultural experts warned Zimbabwe at the start of this year that it needed to import more than 500,000 tons of the staple crop, maize, and about 80,000 tons of wheat to avert food shortages that have been caused by the illegal farm seizures, the government's fast-track resettlement programme and the high costs of production.But with a tricky presidential ballot looming, the government refused to acknowledge the food crisis until three months ago and then only to play down the amount of food imports required.