Officials have announced that Southern African leaders will convene in Swaziland's capital Mbabane on Wednesday for an urgent meeting to address the crisis in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has called on the United Nations to isolate President Robert Mugabe and deploy a peacekeeping force in the country. Despite the U.N. Security Council's recent condemnation of violence against opposition members and declaration that a free and fair presidential election on Friday was not possible, Mugabe remains defiant. The meeting in Mbabane has been organized by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), as pressure mounts on Mugabe to address the political and economic challenges facing Zimbabwe. The leaders of Tanzania, Angola, and Swaziland will attend the meeting in their capacity as the SADC's troika organ on politics, defense, and security. The statement mentioned that the current SADC chairman, President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, and the SADC mediator for Zimbabwe, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, have been invited to attend the meeting. The main agenda of the meeting is to discuss how the SADC and its troika organ on politics, defense, and security can assist Zimbabwe in resolving its current state of conflict. Tsvangirai, who has sought refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare after withdrawing from the election, expressed concern that Zimbabwe would face dire consequences if the international community did not intervene. He called for the U.N. to take stronger action, including actively isolating President Mugabe, and emphasized the need for a protective force to safeguard the people. Tsvangirai stated that while armed conflict is not desired, the people of Zimbabwe require global leaders to not only speak out against the situation but also take action through military force. This force would act as peacekeepers, protecting the people from their oppressors and ensuring a safe environment for the democratic process. Pressure on Mugabe has increased from various sources, both within and outside of Africa, due to Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis. The United States has called on SADC to denounce both the election and Mugabe's government as illegitimate. Angola's state-owned ANGOP news agency reported that SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao stated that foreign ministers agreed during a meeting on Monday that there was a "climate of extreme violence" in Zimbabwe and that the government needed to protect its people. The scheduled run-off election on Friday was supposed to be between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai had won the first round in March, but official results did not give him a clear victory. In the March parliamentary elections, Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change defeated Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, marking the first time since independence from Britain in 1980 that ZANU-PF had been defeated. Both Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and the leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress called for the postponement of Friday's election following Tsvangirai's withdrawal. Zuma, who is seen as one of the most influential figures in South Africa, has urged for immediate involvement from the United Nations and SADC, stating that the situation in Zimbabwe is spiraling out of control. While Mbeki's approach has been one of quiet diplomacy with Mugabe and resisting the use of economic influence over Zimbabwe, Zuma, who replaced Mbeki as ANC leader, has been more vocal in his criticism of Mugabe. Despite pressure from the West, Mugabe remains defiant and has declared that the election will proceed as planned. Mugabe stated that elections will continue, and those who choose to acknowledge the legitimacy of his government can do so, while those who do not want to should refrain. Mugabe has overseen a decline in the economy, with 80 percent unemployment and inflation rates surpassing 165,000 percent, which he attributes to Western sanctions.