Sydney - Australia Wednesday ruled out international military action in Zimbabwe and urged the country's neighbours to exert pressure on President Robert Mugabe ahead of the June 27 Presidential run-off election.

"I don't think that the international community will move in the first instance or quickly or necessarily at all to military intervention in Zimbabwe," Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told reporters in Canberra.

"We've been arguing for some time and we repeat the argument that the primary responsibility here has to fall upon Zimbabwe's neighbours - the Southern African Development Community states. And I don't hold out, frankly, any realistic prospect that the Security Council would move to an enforcement action," Smith told reporters.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has pulled out of the Presidential run-off poll, citing intimidation and violence against his supporters, and is calling for peacekeepers to be sent to his country.

"If there is to be a peacekeeping force in Zimbabwe, then logically and necessarily in the first instance that would have to come from the African Union and Southern African Development community states," said Smith, who has held talks with his counterparts in Botswana and Tanzania and will be speaking to Botswana's vice-president and South Africa's foreign minister.

Australia is calling for a full debate on the Zimbabwe situation at the United Nations Security Council and wants UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to appoint a special envoy.

"We're urging through our mission in New York upon the Secretary General - a couple of suggestions - firstly that there be a full and open debate before the Security Council on Zimbabwe which Australia would have the opportunity of putting its point of view," Smith told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

He played down Opposition Liberal backbencher Chris Pearce's call to send former prime minister Malcolm Fraser to Zimbabwe to persuade Mr Mugabe to relinquish office.

"Again I think it's one of those areas where it may well be that an African envoy is the best starting point," Smith told reporters.

On whether Australia would have given refuge to Mr Tsvangirai, Smith said, "If he had approached our mission in Harare for refuge we certainly would have granted it. If he had asked we would obviously have given him whatever consular support and assistance that we could."

Mr Tsvangirai has sought refuge at the Dutch embassy in Harare.

Australia is also considering imposing stronger travel sanctions on certain members of the Mugabe Government.

"It's quite clear that Mr Mugabe has no electoral or democratic legitimacy whatsoever and even if Mr Mugabe continues with perpetrating the fraud on Friday, he can't be given any legitimacy and we again call on the neighbouring African states to bring as much pressure to bear as is possible," Smith told ABC. (dpa)