By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbekibegan talks on Saturday with President Robert Mugabe onZimbabwe's election deadlock, hours before regional leadersmeet in Zambia to discuss the two-week-old crisis.
The Harare talks are the first between Mugabe and hispowerful neighbour since Zimbabwe's elections on March 29.Mbeki has been mediating between Mugabe and the oppositionMovement for Democratic Change (MDC) since last year.
Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga declined to comment onthe talks.
"I have no comment on the subject of the meeting becausethere is an agreement with the leadership in Zimbabwe,including the MDC, that we will not conduct our forum in themedia," he told Reuters.
An opposition source said on Thursday that Mbeki had metMDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai to discuss the crisis. No detailswere revealed.
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.
Zambia's Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande said on Saturdaythe results of the election needed to be released.
"Zambia's position is that the election results must bereleased and thereafter it will be decided what next," he toldReuters in Lusaka.
The result of the presidential election has not yet beenpublished, 14 days after the vote took place.
The MDC won a parliamentary election held at the same timeand claims victory in the presidential poll. It has gone tocourt to try to force officials to release the results.
MDC leader Tsvangirai has been invited to the Lusaka summitto explain his stance to the regional leaders.
"No decision can be made without hearing both sides sincethere is a stalemate," Pande said.
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MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti said the party will tellSouthern African leaders at the summit to stand up to Mugabe --still seen as a liberation-era hero by many Africans.
"We'll be telling the leaders that they must stand upagainst the dictator. They must be strong and stand up againstdictatorship," Biti said.
The 14-member SADC has long been seen as toothless in itsresponse to Zimbabwe's political and economic problems.
Last year, it delegated Mbeki to oversee negotiationsbetween Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC in an effort toreach an agreement that would ensure a fair and free election.The talks failed, prompting criticism of SADC and of Mbeki'squiet diplomacy.
The 84-year-old Zimbabwean leader has shown no sign ofgiving in to those urging him to respect the election results.
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 violence.
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.
An estimated one-quarter of Zimbabwe's population have fledthe country, once described as southern Africa's breadbasket,to escape hyper-inflation of more than 100,000 percent, chronicshortages of food and fuel and 80 percent unemployment.
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said onFriday that Zimbabwe "now stands on the brink".
"SADC must insist that a peaceful and just solution befound to resolve the political crisis in Zimbabwe," he said.
(Reporting by Cris Chinaka, MacDonald Dzirutwe, NelsonBanya, Stella Mapenzauswa, Muchena Zigomo, Serena Chaudhry andShapi Shacinda in Lusaka and Sue Thomas in Johannesburg;Writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Catherine Evans)
