(Adds comments from South Africa deputy foreign minister) By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE, March 27 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will attend a regional meeting in Tanzania this week, official reports said on Tuesday, as pressure mounts on African leaders to tackle his controversial rule. Mugabe, who has faced renewed Western-led criticism after a crackdown on opposition leaders, will brief leaders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at the special summit, the official Herald newspaper said. Regional leaders called the SADC meeting to discuss the political crisis in Zimbabwe which analysts say threatens to destabilise the region as millions flee food shortages, 1,700 percent inflation and 80 percent unemployment. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and other party supporters were arrested and beaten after attempting to attend a banned prayer meeting this month. The crackdown raised tensions in the southern African nation, where critics frequently accuse the 83-year old Mugabe of political abuses and disastrous economic mismanagement. The government blames the MDC and official media has highlighted what it says are a series of MDC attacks. The Herald said discussion at the SADC meeting will focus on "the campaign by the MDC to unleash violence as part of its Western-backed efforts for illegal regime change in Zimbabwe." The meeting, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Tanzania's capital Dar es Salaam, is expected to draw 14 heads of state including those from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, according to Tanzanian officials. WAR VETERANS A government notice meanwhile said Zimbabwe was moving ahead with plans to incorporate liberation war veterans -- who were blamed for violent seizures of white-owned farms beginning in 2000 -- into the regular military as a reserve force. The veterans have in the past campaigned for Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF. The MDC says they led a violent campaign which preceded the 2000 and 2002 parliamentary and presidential vote which saw dozens of opposition supporters killed or injured. Mugabe, the country's sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, says the MDC is receiving funding from his Western foes to carry out a "militia-style" campaign of violence to topple him from power. The MDC has denied the charges. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said on Tuesday an MDC supporter had been arrested on charges of petrol bombing a police station in Harare. A government notice seen by Reuters on Tuesday detailed how liberation war veterans -- who were mobilised during Zimbabwe's often-violent campaign to seize white-owned farms beginning in 2000 -- would be absorbed into the military as a reserve force. The veterans, many of whom are strong Mugabe loyalists, would be provided with arms, equipment and financial assistance when on duty, the notice said. There are between 25,000-30,000 active war veterans. Southern African countries have remained largely quiet on the Zimbabwe crisis, but Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa last week broke ranks, comparing the country to a "sinking Titanic". South Africa's deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday his country would work to effect change in Zimbabwe but repeated it would not pursue the tougher route of sanctions pursued by the West. "Zimbabwe and South Africa's economies are very intertwined ... So we would suffer the most if we are not able to find a solution in the Zimbabwean situation," he told reporters.
