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The summit involves leaders from Swaziland, Tanzania and Angola - but does not include the region's chief mediator, South Africa's Thabo Mbeki.

It comes amid reports UK-based mining giant Anglo American is preparing a large investment in a Zimbabwe mine.

The election run-off is due on Friday, despite the opposition's withdrawal.

The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, pulled out of the contest on Sunday, citing government-backed violence against his supporters.

The politically-motivated violence, intimidation and torture have made a just and fair run-off presidential election virtually impossible South African Catholic Bishops' Conference Harare diary: Shell-shocked Zimbabwe and the axis of impunity Mugabe's remarkable comeback New media evades censors

Mr Tsvangirai, who is taking refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare, says his party is open to suggestions from the emergency meeting of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) peace and security committee being held in Swaziland.

Mr Mugabe, who blames the opposition for the violence, says he is open to discussions - but only after the vote. Zimbabwe was ready to repel and resist any threat or hint of interference in the internal political system, the Herald newspaper quoted him as saying.

Police raided an MDC building in the eastern city of Mutare on Wednesday, the AFP news agency reports, demanding ID cards and posting guards outside the premises.

Advisory role

The BBC's David Bamford says Sadc was assigned to oversee the election in Zimbabwe on behalf of Africa, and for that reason its opinion counts as to whether it believes Friday's election should go ahead if the opposition does not take part.

ZIMBABWE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

Zimbabwe's opposition is hoping neighbouring countries will put pressure on President Robert Mugabe to step down. In the past they supported him. How are relations now?

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki is the key Zimbabwe mediator. He has refused to criticise Robert Mugabe but the ruling ANC and trade unions have urged him to take a stronger line.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has taken the region's strongest line on Zimbabwe. He says Zimbabwe is a regional "embarrassment".

Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is one of Robert Mugabe's closest allies - they fought colonialism together in the 1970s. He has urged Mr Mugabe to stop the violence.

Botswana has summoned a Zimbabwean envoy to complain about the political violence. It has been supportive of Zimbabwe's opposition.

Namibia is a close ally of Zimbabwe - it, too, is planning to redistribute white-owned farms to black villagers. It has not criticised the election violence.

Mozambique has hosted some white farmers forced from Zimbabwe and is seen as relatively sympathetic to Zimbabwe's opposition.

Tanzania's ruling party has a long history of close ties to Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and its foreign minister has condemned the violence.

DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila is an ally of Robert Mugabe, who sent troops to help his father, Laurent Kabila, fight rebels.

Malawi is seen as neutral. But some 3m people of Malawian origin are in Zimbabwe, mostly farmworkers who have lost their jobs and were often assaulted during farm invasions.

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But that is not to say President Mugabe will necessarily pay any heed to its opinion, he adds.

The Swazi foreign minister, Mathendele Dlamini, told the BBC that the Sadc meeting was likely to offer advice to Mr Mugabe rather than issue any rebuke.

But the general secretary of the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Zwelinzima Vavi, said he hoped they would tell Mr Mugabe his presidency was over.

"The Sadc government must not drag themselves into recognising what everybody now agrees to be an illegitimate Robert Mugabe government," he said.

"We don't want Mugabe to be recognised at all, that should be the starting point."

Unified effort

International condemnation of Mr Mugabe and the government is also growing. The US has said it would not recognise the result of any vote held on Friday because of the violence being waged against the opposition.

The MDC says some 86 of its supporters have been killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to the ruling Zanu-PF party. The government blames the MDC for the violence.

The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference issued a statement on Wednesday saying "the politically-motivated violence, intimidation and torture have made a just and fair run-off presidential election virtually impossible".

They urged a unified effort from the international community and southern African countries to help resolve the situation and avoid a "vast humanitarian crisis that will engulf the whole Southern African region".

The MDC won the parliamentary vote in March, and claims to have won the first round of the presidential contest - held on the same day - outright.

According to official results, Mr Tsvangirai was ahead of Mr Mugabe but failed to gain enough votes to avoid a run-off.