UNITED NATIONS  - A divided UN Security Council was to weigh the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe Monday following the opposition's withdrawal from a planned presidential runoff election in the face of state-sponsored violence. Ahead of the meeting, the United States and Britain made it clear the President Robert Mugabe's government could not be viewed as legitimate in the absence of a credible and fair election on June 27. "We do not recognize the regime as legitimate," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday. "The current government with no parliamentary majority, having lost the first round of the presidential elections and holding power only because of violence and intimidation is a regime that should not be recognized by anyone," he told lawmakers in a debate on Zimbabwe. In Washington, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also warned that "the Mugabe regime cannot be considered legitimate in the absence of a runoff." She urged both the government and its opposition to work together "on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe." The Security Council meeting was to take place a day after Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), announced he was quitting the run-off race against Mugabe, saying mounting violence made a free and fair poll impossible. Tsvangirai won the first round of the election last March 29 but failed to secure the absolute majority required to avoid a runoff. UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who Sunday described as "deeply distressing" Tsvangirai's decision to pull out of the run-off election, was to make a statement on the crisis later Monday after a luncheon with council ambassadors. "The campaign of violence and intimidation that has marred this election has done a great disservice to the people of the country and must end immediately," he said in a statement released by his press office. The 15-member council met early Monday to discuss modalities of a formal meeting later in the day at which UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe was to brief on UN troubleshooter Haile Menkerios' five-day visit to Harare last week. Diplomats said council members were divided on whether to hold an open or closed-door debate on the issue. Menkerios, an UN assistant secretary general for political affairs, was in South Africa where he met Friday with South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been leading efforts by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to mediate an end to the crisis in Zimbabwe. According to media reports, Mbeki is trying to arrange a first-ever meeting between Mugabe and Tsvangirai that would allow for talks on canceling the June 27 balloting with a view to forming a national unity government. But Tsvangirai Monday took refuge at the Dutch embassy in Harare. "He is temporarily at the embassy of the Netherlands in Harare," Dutch foreign ministry spokesman Bart Rijs said. Also Monday, the opposition said Zimbabwean police rounded up more than 60 people in a raid on the MDC headquarters, including victims of political violence who had taken shelter there. Rice meanwhile strongly condemned "the government of Zimbabwe's continuing campaign of violence against its own people" and said it must be held accountable." "In forsaking the most basic tenet of governance - the protection of its people - the government of Zimbabwe must be held accountable by the international community," Rice said. "We call upon the Southern African Development Community, African Union Peace and Security Council, and the United Nations Security Council to take up this issue immediately," she added. Mugabe - in power since independence from Britain in 1980 - has frequently accused Tsvangirai