(CNSNews.com) - Long accused by critics of a timid approach to the crisis in Zimbabwe, the government of neighboring South Africa is now leading opposition in the U.N. Security Council to U.S.-led efforts to impose sanctions against Robert Mugabe's regime.

South Africa has the support of three other elected members of the Security Council -- Libya, Vietnam and Indonesia -- as well as permanent members China and Russia, making a total of six countries, only two of them free democracies, that are opposed to acting against Mugabe.

Just one more is needed to defeat the sanctions resolution, and Burkina Faso -- the third current African member -- is being lobbied hard by both sides. The West African country's president, Blaise Compaore, warned at the recent African Union (A.U.) summit in Egypt that the Zimbabwe situation could affect the entire southern African region.

Burkina Faso is itself not a free democracy. Compaore came to power in a bloody coup 21 years ago and has won three elections since then, most recently in 2005 despite a 2000 constitutional amendment limiting the president to two terms.

One of the reasons political analysts put forward for the reluctance of the A.U. -- like its predecessor, the Organization of Africa Unity -- to condemn the autocratic Zimbabwean leader is the lack of democratic credentials of many other African leaders.

According to the human rights watchdog Freedom House, which rates countries annually based on scores for political freedoms and civil liberties, only 11 of Africa's 53 countries are "free." They are Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Ghana, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal and South Africa.

Mugabe himself alluded to this on the eve of the A.U. summit, with the mouthpiece Harare Herald newspaper on Monday citing him as saying that he "was prepared to face any of his African Union counterparts disparaging Zimbabwe's electoral conduct because some of their countries had worse" election records.

Among those who voiced most vocal support for Mugabe at the summit was Gabon's President Omar Bongo, who has been in power for 40 years and following the departure of Cuba's Fidel Castro became the world's longest-ruling leader.

Despite strong criticism of Zimbabwe from some governments -- notably Botswana, Sierra Leone and Ghana -- the summit ended with a bland call for Mugabe and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai to "initiate dialogue" and voiced support for the creation of a unity government.

The A.U. summit also confirmed the role of South African President Thabo Mbeki as mediator in the crisis, despite the MDC's allegations that he has a pro-Mugabe bias.

Zimbabwe state media hailed the summit outcome with such headlines as "Zim scores major diplomatic victory" and "Zim's detractors put to shame."

But with Tsvangirai having rejected Mbeki as a mediator, reports from the U.N. say that diplomatic efforts are now underway to have Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appoint another mediator.

Among those whose names are being circulated is Ghanaian President John Kufuor, who will step aside later this year after two elected terms and presides over the African country that rates second-to-highest in Freedom House's annual evaluation.

The proposed sanctions targeting Mugabe and top members of his government would be the first imposed by the world body on Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.

"It's time for the [Security] Council to stand up," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday. "It's time for the member-states of the Council to say that this is just unacceptable -- what is happening in Zimbabwe and what's being perpetrated by Mr. Mugabe and those around him against the Zimbabwean people."

Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in a first round of presidential voting last March, but electoral officials said he did not get the 50 percent of the vote required to win outright.

A run-off was scheduled for last Friday, but Tsvangirai withdrew after a campaign of violence against his supporters. Mugabe went ahead, won, and was sworn in for a sixth term on Sunday.

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