By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, March 16 (Reuters) - Britain on Friday asked U.N. officials to brief the Security Council on Zimbabwe's political oppression and economic chaos, but South Africa made clear no action would follow.

Critics of President Robert Mugabe, 83, Zimbabwe's leader since independence from Britain in 1980, accuse him of ruining the country's economy and clamping down on any dissent.

Most recently, Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was arrested on Sunday and emerged limping, badly bruised and with a head wound.

He blamed his injuries on an "orgy of heavy beatings" while in custody.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said he asked for "a humanitarian briefing" because of the attacks on Tsvangirai, the economic crisis and the general political situation.

Jones Parry said he was not asking at this stage for specific action. Instead, he said he wanted to focus attention on the events of the last week and the economic and political situation, which had caused Zimbabweans to flee to other countries in southern Africa.

But Dumisani Kumalo, South Africa's U.N. ambassador, said that while he and other council members had no objections to the briefing, the turmoil in Zimbabwe did not affect international peace and security -- the council's mandate.

"We do not believe that the issue of Zimbabwe belongs in the Security Council," Kumalo said. "So to bring it to the council is surprising."

Developing countries as well as China and Russia have prevented action on Zimbabwe. Their main argument is that the council was encroaching on issues such as human rights, which are handled in other forums.

In mid-2005, Britain was successful in organizing a Security Council hearing by Anna Tibaijuka, the head of U.N.-Habitat, who wrote a devastating report on Mugabe's slum demolitions that threw 700,000 people out of their homes or jobs without providing proper housing elsewhere.

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