HARARE (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Zimbabwe on Saturday for talks with President Robert Mugabe on the country's election deadlock, before regional leaders meet in Zambia to discuss the crisis.
The Harare talks would be the first between the two leaderssince Zimbabwe's elections on March 29.
Mugabe has said he will not attend the Southern AfricanDevelopment Community (SADC) summit in Lusaka later onSaturday, called by Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa to try toend the impasse over Zimbabwe's disputed elections and preventthe crisis from turning violent.
The result of the presidential election has not yet beenpublished, two weeks after the vote took place.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change won theparliamentary election, held at the same time, and claimsvictory in the presidential poll. It has gone to court to tryto force officials to release the results.
The 14-member SADC has long been seen as toothless in itsresponse to Zimbabwe's political and economic problems.
Mbeki has been mediating between Mugabe and the MDC sincelast year. The SADC delegated the South African president tooversee negotiations between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and theMDC in an effort to reach an agreement that would ensure a fairand free election.
The talks failed, prompting a wave of criticism of SADC andMbeki's quiet diplomacy.
The 84-year-old Zimbabwean leader has shown no sign ofgiving in to those urging him to respect the results of theMarch 29 election.
The summit appeared to be the best chance to dissuade himfrom launching another crackdown on the opposition. Dozens ofMDC activists and supporters were beaten by police last year inan abortive anti-government protest in the capital Harare.
The MDC and ZANU-PF have accused each other of preparingfor street battles.
Zimbabwean police have banned political rallies, includingone planned by the MDC for Sunday. The opposition has calledfor an indefinite general strike to begin on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Cris Chinaka; writing by Marius Bosch;editing by Andrew Dobbie)
