SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Egypt) - AN AFRICAN UNION summit opened in Egypt on Monday, attended by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe amid growing calls for African leaders to shun him over his widely discredited election win.

Host Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak gave an opening speech before the summit began closed-door proceedings set to be dominated by the crisis in Zimbabwe which has divided African leaders.

The two-day meeting of the 53-nation bloc is being held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Mr Mugabe was sworn in as president for a sixth term after a widely discredited runoff in which he was the only candidate. His main rival has dismissed the inauguration as 'an exercise in self-delusion.'

But some African leaders have been unwilling to criticise Mr Mugabe and have called for the president and opposition to instead engage in dialogue.

His decision to go ahead with the election after the withdrawal of opposition leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai provoked unprecedented African criticism of the former liberation hero.

Mr Tsvangirai withdrew because of violence in which he said nearly 90 of his followers were killed.

Monitors from both Zimbabwe's neighbours in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Pan-African parliament said the vote was undermined by violence and did not reflect the will of the people.

Indications ahead of the summit suggested the leaders will reject strong Western calls for hefty new sanctions on Zimbabwe and press instead for talks between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai.

Some of the leaders favour a power-sharing deal modelled on the one the ended a bloody post-election crisis in Kenya earlier this year in which 1,500 people died.

Zimbabwe's crisis has ruined a once prosperous country, saddling it with the world's worst rate of hyper-inflation and sending millions of refugees into neighbouring countries.

Mr Tsvangirai called on the leaders not to recognise Mr Mugabe's re-election.

'We want them (the AU) to say the 27 (June) election is illegitimate,' he told Dutch public television.

'We want them to say the 29th March election reflected the will of the people and that it should be the basis for negotiating this transition.'

Mr Tsvangirai won the first round of elections on March 29 but fell short of the majority needed for outright victory. -- AFP, REUTERS