Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, will travel to southern African countries to seek support to end his country's political crisis, said his spokesman, George Sibotshiwe.

``The Zimbabwean problem hasn't gone away and Mr. Tsvangirai needs to engage regional leaders who may be able to unlock the crisis at home,'' Sibotshiwe said in a telephone interview today from Johannesburg.

A meeting of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community in Johannesburg yesterday failed to broker a power- sharing agreement between Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, and President Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe has been in political deadlock since Mugabe claimed victory in a one-man runoff presidential election that Tsvangirai boycotted to protest violence targeting his supporters. Tsvangirai won the most votes in the initial poll on March 29 and his party won the most seats in the lower house of parliament.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai, along with Arthur Mutambara, leader of a splinter group of the MDC, began talks on July 21 on forming a unity government.

Since the negotiations began, Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and the MDC haven't been able to agree on the division of executive powers between the president and a newly created post of prime minister, Tsvangirai said yesterday.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Durban via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 18, 2008 07:42 EDT