Officials have announced that Southern African leaders will convene an emergency meeting in Swaziland's capital Mbabane on Wednesday 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 Zimbabwe. Despite the U.N. Security Council's recent condemnation of violence against the opposition and declaration that a free and fair presidential election on Friday is impossible, Mugabe remains defiant. The meeting in Mbabane has been organized by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in response to growing international pressure for Mugabe to address the political and economic challenges facing Zimbabwe. The leaders of Tanzania, Angola, and Swaziland will participate in the meeting in their roles within the SADC's troika organ on politics, defense, and security, according to a statement from the Tanzanian government. 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 meeting will address how the SADC and its troika on politics, defense, and security can assist Zimbabwe in resolving its current conflict. Tsvangirai, who has sought refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare, expressed concern that Zimbabwe would deteriorate without international intervention. He called on the United Nations to take stronger action against President Mugabe, including implementing measures to protect the people. Tsvangirai stated that while the people of Zimbabwe do not desire armed conflict, they require global leaders to support their condemnation with military intervention, acting as peacekeepers to protect the democratic process. Pressure on Mugabe has escalated from both African and international sources due to Zimbabwe's political and economic turmoil, with the United States urging SADC to denounce the election and Mugabe's regime as illegitimate. According to Angola's state-run ANGOP news agency, SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao stated that foreign ministers agreed at a meeting on Monday that there was a "climate of extreme violence" in Zimbabwe and that the government needed to protect the people. The vote scheduled for Friday was supposed to be a run-off between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, had won the first round in March, but official figures did not show a clear victory. The Movement for Democratic Change, led by Tsvangirai, also won a parallel parliamentary election in March, marking the first defeat for Mugabe's ZANU-PF party since independence from Britain in 1980. Both Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and the leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress called for a 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 the United Nations and SADC to intervene in the escalating situation in Zimbabwe. While Mbeki's administration has preferred a policy of "quiet diplomacy" with Mugabe and resisted using economic leverage, Zuma has been more vocal in criticizing Mugabe since taking over as ANC leader in December. Despite pressure from the West, Mugabe remains defiant and has asserted that Friday's election will proceed as planned. Mugabe stated that the elections will proceed, and those who choose to acknowledge their legitimacy may do so, while those who do not should refrain. Mugabe has overseen a decline into economic turmoil, with 80 percent unemployment and the world's highest inflation rate of at least 165,000 percent. He attributes his country's economic difficulties to Western sanctions.