HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s ruling party yesterday endorsed President Robert Mugabe as its candidate for presidential elections to be held next year.ZANU-PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira said that a meeting of the party’s central committee had backed Mugabe, 83, as candidate for the 2008 elections.

He told state television that the meeting had proposed advancing parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2010, by two years to coincide with the presidential poll.

The decision followed an emergency southern African summit Thursday which gave its public backing to Mugabe despite international criticism about the clampdown on opposition supporters.

Mugabe appeared jubilant, surrounded by cheering supporters in traditional costumes, according to footage of the 145-member congress screened by television.

Following a meeting of the top-level politburo earlier this week, the 83-year-old leader said he was willing to stand in the elections for a further six year term if nominated. He has been the country’s only leader since independence from Britain in 1980.

In an opening address to the 245 member committee, Mugabe urged the party leadership to resolve its differences amicably and without resorting to the courts or the media, state radio reported.

Tensions in the ruling Zanu-PF party have reportedly risen because of rival factions competing over the succession issue and the disastrous state of the Zimbabwean economy. The government came in for sustained international criticism following the brutal clampdown earlier this month on opposition activists.

Zimbabwe’s neighbours have been pushed to take the lead on pressuring Mugabe, but an emergency summit of southern African leaders on Thursday ended with a call to work with him.

In the final communique, the summit appealed “for the lifting of all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe.” It also appointed as mediator South African President Thabo Mbeki — who has advocated “quiet diplomacy” over confrontation to move Zimbabwe’s factions toward dialogue and reform.

Former colonial power Britain and other Western nations have imposed targeted sanctions, including asset freezes and a travel ban on Mugabe and more than 100 of his top associates. They argue targeted sanctions do not hurt most Zimbabweans.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, chairman of the regional bloc, said the summit decided “to promote dialogue of the parties in Zimbabwe. There is no replacement to that.”

State radio, the official voice of Mugabe’s government, described the outcome of the summit as “a huge milestone for Zimbabwe.”

The radio said Mugabe’s detractors at home and abroad — who had called for Mugabe to be censured and given a deadline to stand down — were left with “their tails between their legs.”

“The African leaders failed to be manipulated,” it said.

In his speech to the central committee, Mugabe reiterated longstanding accusations that foreign governments — notably Britain — were funding the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. And he renewed warnings to western ambassadors who have criticised the government that they risked expulsion if they interfered in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.

The state-owned Herald newspaper said Mugabe briefed the other southern African leaders on what it called a “terror campaign” by the main opposition party, and that the summit “stood firmly behind” Mugabe’s government.

The Movement for Democratic Change party accused Mugabe’s government of trying to demonise its critics by fabricating allegations of an armed terror campaign. Nine of its activists were charged Thursday with attempted murder in connection with a string of fire bombings, illegal possession of a firearm and of explosives, according to their lawyer.

The Herald said that, arriving at Harare International Airport upon his return from the summit, Mugabe said African leaders urged the Zimbabwean opposition to desist from violence and to recognise him and his government “as he was legitimately re-elected by the people of Zimbabwe in 2002.”

The trade union movement has called for a mass stay away from work next Tuesday and Wednesday.

In the economic meltdown, official inflation, fuelled by high level corruption and black market dealing, is 1,700 percent, the highest in the world.