Southern African leaders gathering in Tanzania Sunday for an annual summit rallied behind Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe despite pressure to tackle him on human rights abuses in his country.

The European Union and the United States have refused to fund projects in which Zimbabwe is involved and have imposed sanctions to protest against Mugabe's controversial re-election last year.

But the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) said it would reject any attempts to divide it.

"We are 14 countries in SADC. The EU can either fund us as a group or keep its financial aid," said Tanzanian Foreign Minister and chair of the group's ministerial council Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, as he admitted that millions in Zimbabwe would face famine without international food supplies.

SADC Executive Secretary Prega Ramsamy said sanctions should be lifted because they hurt only ordinary people and halted programs intended to help poor Zimbabweans.

Mugabe and Swaziland's King Mswati, Africa's last absolute monarch, were due in Tanzania late Sunday for the two-day summit of the 14-member bloc, which opens Monday.

London-based Amnesty International and regional rights group CIVICUS said they wanted SADC leaders to express their concern publicly about the crisis in Zimbabwe and urged them to press Mugabe's government to respect fundamental human rights.

"State-sponsored harassment, attacks and torture directed at the opposition, civil society and independent media workers continue unabated," Amnesty said in a statement circulated as heads of state began arriving in Dar Es Salaam for the summit.

Zimbabwean officials have dismissed criticism by rights groups, and Information Minister Jonathan Moyo last week accused international media of creating a distorted image of the country.

Swazi trade unions and human rights groups said they wanted the deteriorating political situation in the kingdom -- where opposition parties are banned and the rule of law has virtually vanished -- to be key agenda items.

Swazi officials in Tanzania offered no comment.

AIDS TOPS AGENDA

At the summit Monday, leaders will commit themselves to fighting AIDS and sign a Mutual Defense Pact aimed at curbing civil wars through strong regional peace enforcement.

"AIDS is on top of the summit agenda...it is a waste of time to talk about development if the disease, which has infected 14 million people, is not urgently dealt with," Ramsamy said.

South Africa has 4.7 million people infected with HIV or AIDS -- the world's biggest caseload.

The disease affects around 40 percent of adults in Swaziland and 35 percent in Botswana. One in five adults in Zimbabwe and Zambia are infected with HIV or have full-blown AIDS.

The leaders will also review food supplies in the region after drought led to shortages that hit nearly 15 million people in six countries last year.

Some seven million people could face famine this year, most of them in Zimbabwe, without international handouts.

The SADC comprises South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Seychelles, Mauritius, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Malawi.

President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, lauded regionally for agreeing to a comprehensive peace pact, was the first leader to arrive, followed by the leaders of Zambia, Malawi and Lesotho.

Thirteen heads of state and government are expected after Seychelles gave notice of its withdrawal.

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