Protests over Zimbabwe as African summit opens

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) - African leaders gathered for a weekend summit in South Africa on Saturday as hundreds protested nearby, angry at the inclusion of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

The protesters planned to march to the summit venue in Johannesburg to call on the leaders not to recognize Mugabe as a head of state after June's widely discredited presidential runoff that returned the longtime president to power.

Zimbabwe's political crisis is expected to dominate the summit of the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional group set up to promote democracy and economic growth in the region.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, SADC's appointed mediator for Zimbabwe, had hoped to host the summit having clinched a power-sharing deal between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. But after weeks of back-and-forth talks among the parties, Mbeki has been unable to get them to agree.