(LUXEMBOURG) - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Monday decried Robert Mugabe's "attempted power grab" after the Zimbabwe president handed out key cabinet seats regardless of a power-sharing deal.

"I think it is very important that a European signal goes out that we will have no part, and play no part in supporting a power grab by the Mugabe regime," Miliband said as he arrived for talks with his fellow EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

He added that it was important that there be "an international united response that says that the results of the (Zimbabwean) elections need to be respected and that a power grab will not be respected."

The call from the former British colonial power came as Mugabe swore in his two vice presidents Monday.

Zimbabwean state media announced Saturday that Mugabe decided to give his own party all key cabinet posts, prompting opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to threaten to pull out of the deal.

Under the power-sharing deal signed four weeks ago, 84-year-old Mugabe retains the presidency while Tsvangirai takes the new post of prime minister.

But the agreement hit a deadlock when the two men could not agree on how to divide the most important cabinet positions, including defence, home affairs and finance.

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