Southern African leaders will convene an urgent meeting in the capital of Swaziland, 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 has emphasized the need for 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 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 resolve the political and economic crisis in 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 purpose 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 be in dire straits if the international community did not intervene. He called on the United Nations to take more decisive action, including isolating President Mugabe and deploying a force to protect the people. Tsvangirai stated that while armed conflict is not desired, the people of Zimbabwe require global leaders to support their words of condemnation with the ethical use of military force. This force would act as peacekeepers, separating the oppressed from their oppressors and protecting the democratic process that Zimbabwe aspires to. Pressure on Mugabe has intensified from various sources, including within and outside Africa, due to Zimbabwe's political and economic turmoil. The West and the opposition attribute the crisis to the 84-year-old president, who has been in power for 28 years. The United States has called on SADC to denounce both the election and Mugabe's government 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 election scheduled for Friday was supposed to be a run-off between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, with the opposition leader winning the first round in March but not achieving an outright victory according to official figures. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change 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 the postponement of Friday's election following Tsvangirai's withdrawal. Zuma, who is considered one of the most influential figures in South Africa alongside Mbeki, has requested immediate action from the United Nations and SADC due to the worsening situation in Zimbabwe. While Mbeki's administration has favored a strategy of "quiet diplomacy" with Mugabe and resisted using economic power over Zimbabwe, Zuma has been more vocal in criticizing Mugabe since taking over as ANC leader. Despite pressure from the West, Mugabe remains defiant and insists that the election will proceed as planned. Mugabe stated that the elections will proceed, and those who choose to acknowledge the government's legitimacy may do so, while those who do not wish to recognize it should refrain from doing so. 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 troubles to Western sanctions.