Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is under immense pressure to quit the government of national unity after the SADC summit ignored the issues bedevilling the coalition.

The Movement for Democratic Change leader was to hold a crisis meeting with his party's national council in Bulawayo in a desperate attempt to cool rising tempers over the SADC debacle in Kinshasa last week.

A government of national unity was formed between President Robert Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, the leader of the smaller faction of the MDC, in February 2009 after the Global Political Agreement (GPA) brokered by former South African president Thabo Mbeki.

However, the seven-month old coalition government has been rocked by the failure to fully implement the pact and other outstanding issues, such as the refusal by Mugabe to reverse the arbitrary appointment of the central bank governor and attorney-general, among other thorny issues.

Tsvangirai and the two MDC formations had hoped the SADC summit would bring finality on the outstanding issues, especially after the outgoing SADC chairman, South African President Jacob Zuma, visited Harare last month.

Hardliners in the former opposition party are now pushing Tsvangirai to disengage from the power-sharing arrangement following what they view as a snub by SADC, one of the guarantors of the shaky coalition along with the Africa Union.

An MDC executive speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The SADC leaders have shown that they have this habitual tendency of siding with Mugabe, yet the fellow lost the presidential election.

Mugabe has long shown insincerity to the GPA and he is encouraged to violate the GPA with impunity by SADC leaders who don't want to call a spade a spade but a spoon.

"We say enough is enough. It is time we left this animal called inclusive government. We want elections now and Zanu PF will be history."

At the end of the two-day SADC summit, the regional body issued a communiqué calling for the lifting of targeted sanctions slapped on Mugabe and about 200 members of his former ruling cabal in 2001.

While Zanu-PF blames the sanctions for the country's 10-year stagnation, the MDC attributes the chaos to Mugabe's skewed economic and political policies.

A dejected Tsvangirai, who is understood to be preaching caution and is against leaving the national unity government, said SADC remained seized with the enormous responsibility of ensuring that the parties moved rapidly towards the full implementation of the GPA.

He said the SADC troika would now deal with the Zimbabwe matter.

"It is my hope and belief that it will deal with all outstanding issues as a matter of urgency. The legitimacy, credibility and, indeed, the existence of the inclusive government itself depend upon the expeditious resolution and enforcement of the agreement in full."

There are fears that if the MDC pulls out of the government of national unity, the country will again plunge into chaos.

AFPreports that Zimbabwe will demand an apology from the European Union for imposing sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle.

By Staff reporter and agencies