Johannesburg - A crisis summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to discuss the nearly two-month impasse in Zimbabwe's power-sharing negotiations will be held this weekend in South Africa, the department of foreign affairs confirmed Tuesday.

"It (the summit) will be held Sunday in South Africa," foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Asked if all 15 SADC members would be attending, Mamoepa said, "As far as we're aware, yes."

On the Zimbabwean side, "I'm sure all the political parties that are involved in the negotiations will be invited - (President Robert Mugabe's) Zanu-PF and the two (Movement for Democratic Change) MDC formations," he said.

The venue for the summit was still being finalized.

The summit is being held at the behest of prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC, which had demanded all SADC members meet to try to resolve the seven-week impasse between Zanu-PF and Tsvangirai's MDC on the make-up of a unity government.

Mugabe, Tsvangirai and the leader of a breakaway MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara, signed an historic deal on September 15 to try to end the country's nearly decade-long political and economic crises by sharing power.

But the deal has since foundered on the huge mistrust between Zanu-PF and the MDC, particularly on the issue of who should control the security forces.

The MDC has agreed to allow Zanu-PF to retain control of the Defence Ministry, in return for control of the Home Affairs Ministry, which controls the police.

Zanu-PF hardliners are bitterly opposed to handing over the police.

A mini-SADC summit in Harare recently failed to break the deadlock.

While the political squabbling continues, Zimbabwe, battered by inflation estimated in the billions of per cent, is teetering on the brink of famine and a cholera epidemic.

Around 3 million people are in need of food aid and doctors say around 130 people have died of cholera in the country in recent weeks in a generalized breakdown of systems and infrastructure caused chiefly by Mugabe's populist policies.

The 84-year-old autocrat has ruled the country for 28 years.

The MDC, the country's longtime opposition, has said it will not take up a junior partnership in government given that the party defeated Zanu-PF in elections this year. (dpa)