THE deportation of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe has now beenhalted, Gordon Brown said.

The Prime Minister told MPs that while officials continued to deal with the issue on a case-by-case basis, no returns were cur- rently taking place.

"No-one is being forced to return to Zimbabwe from the United Kingdom at this time," he said.

Mr Brown, who has been under pressure to stop the deportations in the wake of the violence surrounding the disputed presidential election, said that ministers were also looking to help failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers who were unable to work. "They are prevented from leaving the UK through no fault of their own," he said. "They are provided with accommoda- tion and vouchers to ensure that they are not destitute but we are looking to see what we can do to support Zimbabweans in this situa- tion."

Mr Brown, who was making a Commons state- ment on this week's G8 summit in Japan, appealed to the entire international community to back the imposition of United Nations' sanctions on Robert Mugabe's regime. British officials had thought they had the sup- port of the entire G8 for a resolution in the UN Security Council after the leaders signed up to a state- ment calling for measures against regime figures responsible for the violence. However on the final day of the summit, Russia - one of the five permanent Security Council members with the power of veto - denounced the draft resolu- tion drawn up by Britain and the US as "excessive". With the position of China - another permanent member - also unclear, Mr Brown said detailed negotiations were now taking place at the UN headquarters in New York.

He acknowledged that the draft resolution - which also calls for an arms embargo on Zimbabwe - went further than the G8 statement, but urged mem- bers to support it. "It is very important that the whole weight of the international community is behind the efforts to secure a transition in Zimbabwe," he said.

In a related development Russia and China vetoed US-proposed sanctions on Zimbabwe's leaders on Friday, the global commu- nity's latest attempt to take action against an authoritar- ian regime widely criticized for a violent and one-sided presidential election. Western powers mus- tered nine votes, the mini- mum needed to gain approval in the 15-nation council. But the resolution pushed by the Bush admin- istration failed because of the action by two of the five veto-wielding permanent members. The other three nations with veto power argued that sanctions were needed to respond to the government- backed violence and intimi- dation against opponents of President Robert Mugabe during Zimbabwe's first round presidential vote in March and runoff in late June. Mugabe's government has denied responsibility for the bloodshed surround- ing the vote, which he won in the runoff after his sole rival Morgan Tsvangirai dropped out because of attacks on his followers. Tsvangirai's party reported on Friday that at least 113 of its members were killed in political violence since March.