Lusaka: Regional leaders opened today an emergency summit to discuss Zimbabwe's disputed elections, but hopes of a tough statement dimmed hours earlier when South Africa's president said there was no crisis.

However Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, in the chair, said it would be wrong to turn a blind eye on Zimbabwe, while stressing the summit was not intended to put his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe in the dock.

The first guest to arrive at the Lusaka summit was Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who has claimed outright victory over Mugabe in the March 24 presidential election, though the result has still not been announced.

Arriving shortly after Mwanawasa, Tsvangirai was greeted by ironic chants of "President, President" but made no comment to reporters. The summit opened shortly afterwards.

Opposition hopes the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) might issue a hard-hitting statement and even put pressure on Mugabe to stand down were dealt a blow hours earlier when South Africa's Thabo Mbeki stopped over in Harare.

After his first face-to-face talks with Mugabe since the elections, Mbeki ignored pleas for outside pressure to be levied upon the veteran Zimbabwean leader and demanded simply that things be allowed to run their course.

"There is no crisis in Zimbabwe," he told journalists. "The body authorised to release the results is the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, let's wait for them to announce the results."

Mugabe, alongside him, made no mention of the election, but denied he was snubbing the SADC summit. 
Source : PTI