Mugabe said he was working to resolve a political dispute threatening his power-sharing government with Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (or MDC) said it was "disengaging" from cabinet until Mugabe agreed to fully implement the fragile coalition's power-sharing deal, including swearing in top MDC legislator Roy Bennett. But an unusually restrained Mugabe said the MDC was refusing to reciprocate the friendly gesture his party had extended by entering into the unity government with it.

Speaking on Saturday at the state funeral of a former freedom fighter who participated in the independence war in the 1970s, Mugabe, speaking of Tsvangirai's temporary withdrawal from the cabinet, said: "Even if some person is not mentally stable he is still your partner.

"We bound ourselves to work together even though we had disparate positions. We will continue talking, no matter what," he said.

Mugabe said his ZANU-PF party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change had taken "positive steps" despite having faced difficulties in sharing executive power.

"We are glad that we are talking about it. We are treating it as a domestic political problem, and our attitude is that ultimately it is up to us as Zimbabweans to sort out our problems.

“On an odd day, one party decides it should not be fully in the process,” he said.

Mugabe, who was speaking a day after regional officials announced that Southern African states would soon hold a summit on the Zimbabwe crisis, said even in cases where Zimbabweans seek outside help, they have the ultimate responsibility to resolve the crises besetting the southern African nation.

On Friday, foreign ministers from Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia - members of the Southern African Development Community that pushed Mugabe and Tsvangirai to share power - met separately with the two to try to heal the split in the government. After the meetings, they said they would recommend to their heads of state that a summit be convened, a move for which Tsvangirai has pushed. Besides refusing to swear in Bennett into the government, the MDC accuses ZANU PF -- which it calls an "arrogant and unreliable partner" -- of persecuting its officials and delaying media and constitutional reforms that will be key to holding free and fair elections in about three years.

Tsvangirai said it was Mugabe, in power since independence and seen as increasingly autocratic, who has failed to live up to their power-sharing agreement. He withdrew from Cabinet on October 16, accusing Mugabe of trampling on human rights, and said he would only return when confidence in the unity government was restored.

Tsvangirai's party has reported a recent surge in political violence, allegations that Mugabe's party denies. And the barring on Thursday of United Nations torture investigator Manfred Nowak raised further questions about how much power Tsvangirai can wield in the face of fierce opposition from some in ZANU-PF. Tsvangirai had invited Nowak, but the United Nations envoy was stopped at the Harare International Airport, on the outskirts of the capital and instantly deported.

Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, a ZANU-PF leader, called Nowak's attempted visit "a provocation of the highest order".

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