President Thabo Mbeki is trying to broker a meeting between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to discuss a Kenya-style unity pact.

He told the two rivals at separate meetings in Zimbabwe on Wednesday that the presidential run-off next week would not resolve the crisis.

Mbeki met first with Mugabe's Deputy Vice-President Joseph Msika and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare.

Highly placed sources interviewed afterwards said Mbeki was adamant that next week's run-off election could plunge Zimbabwe into more chaos as it was already clear that the outcome would be contested.

Mbeki told Mugabe and Tsvangirai that a meeting between them to chart a practical way forward had become imperative.

Mbeki "is convinced the run-off will not help in resolving the crisis in Zimbabwe and has made that point very clear", said an official, who did not want to be named.

"He has warned that the run-off might exacerbate the situation. He thus prefers a Kenya-style power-sharing pact instead of the run-off."

The official said he believed it was too late for a unity government. Tsvangirai had told Mbeki that he was ready to meet Mugabe but that it was Mugabe who had persistently refused to meet the MDC leader.

Sources said it was unlikely that Mbeki would persuade Mugabe, whom he met later in Bulawayo, to swallow his words and meet the opposition leader.

"The president believes that the animosity between Tsvangirai and Mugabe is hurting Zimbabwe.

"Even with more than 1 000 dead bodies in the streets, (Mbeki) is saying that Odinga and Kibaki were able to rise above petty squabbling and meet to resolve their differences," said another official, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

None of the political sources interviewed believed that there were any realistic chances of having the run-off cancelled, in favour of a unity government, or postponed to achieve a suitable electoral environment.

Still, Mbeki believed a Mugabe/Tsvangirai meeting was important in setting the stage for effective unity government talks if the run-off proceeded, regardless of who emerged final victor.

Commenting on the possible outcome of Mbeki's latest jaunt into Zimbabwe, one MDC official said Mbeki "will be back to his usual failing self".

"Mbeki is notorious for siding with dictators. He sees the Zimbabwe crisis through Zanu-PF's spectacles. That's why his ubiquitous visits here have been a failure and, frankly speaking, a waste of everyone's time," the official said.

Despite their tough public rhetoric, officials from both parties show a realisation in interviews that their two parties cannot wish each other way and a unity government cannot be summarily discarded.

The key issue is who should head it, with Mugabe not prepared to serve under MDC and vice versa, and about when it should be considered. Both parties seem to want whoever wins the run-off to then determine the unity government course.

But the MDC is also starting to realise that winning the run-off is going to be a tough call, due to the decimation of its support base, particularly in the rural areas, by Mugabe's campaign of violence.