Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party has endorsed President Robert Mugabe as its candidate in the 2008 presidential election.
A party spokesperson said the resolution backing the 83-year-old's decision to run for a fresh term in office was passed by the central committee at a meeting in Harare.
Mr Mugabe has been in power since independence in 1980.
He has faced international condemnation over a brutal crackdown on opponents this month, which left opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai injured and hospitalised after police stopped a banned prayer rally to protest against a deepening economic crisis.
Yesterday South African leaders called for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe, flying in the face of a chorus of Western criticism of President Mugabe's regime.
'The extraordinary summit appeals for the lifting of all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe,' the leaders of 14 southern African countries said in a statement at the end of a two-day emergency meeting in Tanzania.
Western governments led by Britain and the US had hoped for a clear condemnation of Mr Mugabe following his crackdown on the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), and the arrest and beating of its leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
But instead the leaders at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit issued a statement of 'solidarity' with the Zimbabwean government.
Western countries have slapped a broad array of sanctions on Mr Mugabe's regime and loudly criticised what they say are human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
