Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai lobbied regional leaders at a security summit yesterday to stop what he says is a crackdown by President Robert Mugabe ahead of expected polls.

The security organ of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community opened its summit with a warning from the host, Zambian President Rupiah Banda, that the region should heed the lessons of popular uprisings in North Africa.

"If there is anything that we must learn from the upheavals going on in the northern part of our continent, it is that the legitimate expectations of the citizens of our countries cannot be taken for granted," Banda said.

"We must therefore continue at the SADC level to consolidate democracy through the establishment of institutions that uphold the tenets of good governance, respect for human rights and the rule of law."

In practice, the regional body has shown little willingness in the past to intervene in the infighting within Zimbabwe's unity government.

Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe's Zanu-PF party of stepping up a campaign of violence and intimidation against his supporters.

Tsvangirai has toured the region for the past two weeks to drum up support for stronger action.

Both men say they are ready for elections that would put an end to the transitional unity government, but Tsvangirai says he wants the body to lay out a "road map" to polls.

President Jacob Zuma and Mozambican President Armando Guebuza both attended the summit as members of the "Troika" security body, with Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba also attending as SADC's current chair.