Zimbabwe crisis has weakened regional unity

DURBAN (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's crisis has weakened the unityof the southern African body SADC, Angola's foreign ministersaid on Friday, suggesting the region is divided over how todeal with President Robert Mugabe's disputed re-election.

Talks between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and the oppositionMovement for Democratic Change have stalled, with MDC leaderMorgan Tsvangirai refusing to agree to full-blown negotiationsthat could pave the way for a national unity government.

Several African nations, including Zambia and Botswana,have broken ranks and condemned Mugabe's landslide victory inthe June 27 run-off poll, which was boycotted by Tsvangirai dueto attacks on his party's supporters.

"The SADC region is experiencing an unprecedented situationvis-a-vis the situation in Zimbabwe," Joao de Miranda said atthe opening of a summit of the Southern African DevelopmentCommunity in Durban.

De Miranda said regional unity and cohesion had become morefragile because of the problems in Zimbabwe, where an economiccollapse has sent millions of refugees into neighbouringstates.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has been mediating thepreliminary talks between Mugabe's officials and the MDC.Representatives of the African Union, United Nations and SADCendorsed his mediation on Friday after a briefing in Pretoria,Mbeki's office said.

(Additional reporting by Phakamisa Ndzamela in Pretoria;Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)