SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Sapa-dpa) - A spokesman for the Zimbabwean president on Tuesday dismissed Western criticism of a disputed election victory of the president, who is expected to address an African summit in Egypt amid divisions over the crisis in his country.

At the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, George Charamba, the spokesman for Robert Mugabe, said the West had no basis to speak about the situation in his country.

They can "go hang a thousand times," Charamba was quoted as telling journalists [see other comments here].

He ruled out a Kenya-style unity government with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, saying "only a Zimbabwean way" could solve the problem.

The octogenarian Mugabe has claimed victory against opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai in the election that was marred by widespread violence and condemned as unfair by African monitors.

The Vice-President of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Thokozani Khupe is in Sharm el-Sheikh but she has not been allowed into the conference centre, according to reports.

At a news conference early on Tuesday, she urged African leaders to snub Mugabe.

"I don't think it would be right for the African Union to welcome him after all he has done," Khupe was quoted as saying.

But African leaders have been cautious in their handling of the crisis, which has overshadowed the two-day summit.

Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak, the summit's host, did not make any reference to the Zimbabwe crisis in his opening speech on Monday in which he warned that conflicts on the continent were a major obstacle to development.

Conflicts in Sudan, Somalia and the dispute between Eritrea and Djibouti were given as examples.

Mugabe is expected to address the summit later on Tuesday.