Cape Town  - Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Thursday described the political and economic turmoil in Zimbabwe as a "big embarrassment" for Africa.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town Odinga said: "What happens in Zimbabwe is a big embarrassment for the whole continent. We cannot condone what is happening there."

Odinga was speaking a day after Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was detained by police while campaigning against President Robert Mugabe in the second round of presidential elections on June 27.

The MDC leader, who topped the poll in the first round of voting, was held for held for around nine hours on a technicality.

While Tsvangirai was being questioned by police his party reported that the number of MDC supporters killed by militia of Mugabe's Zanu- PF party since the March 29 elections had climbed to over 60.

"This is not the route that Africa wants to go," Odinga, who was embroiled in a deadly post-election standoff with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki earlier this year, told a press conference.

The Kenyan politician also criticized Africa's reaction to Zimbabwe's election impasse, including the withholding by the state electoral body of the first round presidential results for five weeks.

"It's unfortunate that in an African country elections can be held and no results are announced in more than a month," he said Wednesday.

"And African leaders are silent about it." (dpa)