Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai were expected to be come under unprecedented pressure to end their stand-off from leaders of the 15- nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting Sunday. Heads of state from the regional grouping were converging on a conference centre in northern Johannesburg for the one-day emergency summit on Zimbabwe's political crisis.
The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a member of SADC, was also on the agenda of the meeting.
Zimbabwe's neighbours have warned they will take a tough line with Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who have been bickering for two months over the make-up of the unity government they agreed upon in September.
The disagreement "is a luxury we can least afford," South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, whose country currently holds the rotating SADC presidency, remonstrated ahead of the summit.
According to the terms of the September 15 agreement, Mugabe remains president and Tsvangirai becomes prime minister of a unity government of 31 ministries.
The MDC has accused Mugabe's Zanu-PF of trying to hold onto all the important ministries, such as home affairs, which controls the police and the electoral machine.
A mini-SADC summit in Harare last month failed to break the deadlock.
In the run-up to Sunday's summit two parties were continuing to blame each other for the failure to put in place a government and making noises about pulling out of the deal.
Observers say a power-sharing government is the only way of ending Zimbabwe's nearly decade-long economic slide, which has intensified sharply in recent months.
Some 3 million people in the once model African economy now require food aid.
