By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE, March 27 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will attend a regional meeting in Tanzania this week, official reports said on Tuesday, as pressure mounts on African leaders to tackle his controversial rule.

Mugabe, who has come under a wave of Western-led criticism following a crackdown on the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), will brief leaders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at the special summit, the official Herald newspaper said.

The discussion will focus on "the campaign by the MDC to unleash violence as part of its Western-backed efforts for illegal regime change in Zimbabwe," the Herald said.

Zimbabwe's official media has highlighted what it says are a series of attacks by MDC supporters after MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and other party supporters were arrested and beaten after attempting to attend a banned prayer meeting this month.

The crackdown raised tensions in the southern African nation, where the 83-year old Mugabe has been frequently accused by critics of political abuses and disastrous economic mismanagement.

The Herald said Mugabe would "brief his colleagues on the situation in the country in the wake of the MDC violence," which it described as a plot by Western nations to bring Zimbabwe before the U.N. Security Council.

The SADC meeting, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Tanzania's capital Dar es Salaam, is expected to draw 14 heads of state including those from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, according to Tanzanian officials.

INFLATION THREAT

Political analysts say Zimbabwe's deepening recession threatens to destabilise the region as millions flee the world's highest inflation rate -- now more than 1,700 percent -- as well as a jobless rate above 80 percent and shortages of food.

Mugabe, the country's sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, says the MDC is receiving funding from his Western foes to carry out a "militia-style" campaign of violence to topple him from power. The MDC has denied the charges.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said on Tuesday an MDC supporter had been arrested on charges of petrol bombing a police station in Harare.

Southern African countries have remained relatively quiet on the crisis in Zimbabwe, although Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa last week broke ranks and compared the country to a "sinking Titanic".

The United States and Britain, meanwhile, have led calls for tougher action against Mugabe over his crackdown on opponents. British Foreign Office minister Ian McCartney told parliament on Monday his country would maintain pressure on Mugabe, describing him as "vulnerable".

Mugabe has traded on his legacy as a freedom fighter who helped end white minority rule and says he is being punished for taking white-owned commercial farms to distribute among blacks.

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