(Adds election commission details, journalists in court)

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE, April 10 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition accused President Robert Mugabe on Thursday of carrying out a de facto coup to extend his 28-year rule and said pro-democracy activists were in danger of their lives.

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe will attend an emergency southern African summit called for Lusaka at the weekend, Britain's BBC reported.

Tsvangirai said Mugabe, who has held power since independence from Britain in 1980, would be ousted with the help of other African nations.

"This is, in a sense, a de facto military coup. They have rolled out military forces across the whole country, to prepare for a run-off and try to cow the population. It's an attempt to try to create conditions for Mugabe to win," Tsvangirai said.

"We'll manage to get Mugabe out. Mugabe is being deserted. No one wants to touch Mugabe in the region now. Eventually, we will ease him out," he told Time Magazine.

He spoke ahead of the summit, to be attended by South African President Thabo Mbeki, to discuss growing fears the post election deadlock could lead to bloodshed in Zimbabwe, already suffering economic collapse.

Human Rights Watch said the Lusaka summit was the region's "last real chance" to resolve Zimbabwe's crisis and accused the ruling ZANU-PF party of increasing assaults on opposition activists and polling agents since the election.

The head of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, on Thursday urged all parties in Zimbabwe to honour the results of the elections and pursue disputes legally.

"With regards to Zimbabwe, we urge all parties to respect the will of the people, regardless of the outcome, and to proceed within the requirements of the law," Zuma said in a speech to the Durban Chamber of Commerce.

Tsvangirai's MDC accuses Mugabe, 84, of prolonging a long delay in issuing the results of a March 29 presidential election while he organises a violent response to his biggest defeat since taking power.

Mugabe's ZANU-PF party lost control of parliament for the first time in the election, but no results of the parallel presidential vote have been issued.

Zimbabwe's electoral commission indicated late on Thursday that it would not issue the results as long as the matter was before a High Court in Harare, where the MDC has launched an application to force officials to publish the results.

RIGHTS GROUPS' CONCERNS

MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti told a news conference in Johannesburg: "Quite clearly the situation at home is volatile. The lives of all pro-democracy actors are not safe".

Biti denied reports that Tsvangirai, who has visited regional power South Africa to discuss the crisis, was seeking asylum abroad. He said he would advise him against returning home because of the dangers "but he is his own man".

The U.S. based organisation said it had "received credible information of dozens of ... attacks by ZANU-PF supporters."

Amnesty International also expressed concern about reports of post-election violence targeted at the opposition.

A New York Times reporter and British journalist arrested in Zimbabwe appeared in a court in Harare, where a magistrate heard arguments as to why police did not comply with a directive from the attorney general to release them on April 3.

The journalists have been charged with covering the elections without proper accreditation. They are scheduled to appear again in court on April 11, according to the Media Institute of South Africa.

RUN-OFF PREPARATIONS

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the ruling party was preparing for a runoff after its tallies showed neither Tsvangirai nor Mugabe won the required absolute majority.

The MDC has rejected both a runoff and ZANU-PF attempts to have at least 14 seats recounted in the parliamentary vote. It says Tsvangirai has won and should immediately take over.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) called the Saturday summit.

Tsvangirai said he would try to persuade SADC leaders to ask Mugabe to step down.

SADC has been criticised in the past for failing to pressure Mugabe despite the economic collapse in Zimbabwe, now suffering the world's highest inflation, chronic shortages of food and fuel and a near worthless currency.

The long delay in issuing results has dashed hopes of quick action to turn round a ruined economy that has sent millions of refugees fleeing to neighbouring SADC countries.

The official inflation rate is 100,580 percent, but analysts believe the real level is much higher. An independent Zimbabwean newspaper said last week that official figures for February showed inflation at 164,900 percent. (Additional reporting by Cris Chinaka, Stella Mapenzauswa, Nelson Banya, Muchena Zigomo and Paul Simao; writing by Barry Moody; editing by Sami Aboudi)

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