Harare/Johannesburg - South African President Thabo Mbeki plans to travel to Zimbabwe Wednesday to meet President Robert Mugabe over next week's run-off presidential election, Zimbabwean state media reported.

The state-controlled daily Herald newspaper, quoting "reliable sources," said Mbeki would fly to the western city of Bulawayo to meet Mugabe, who would be campaigning in the area.

They would discuss the election campaigns, it said.

There was no indication in the report he would meet Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe's challenger.

The campaign has been marked by a wave of murders, abductions,, assault, torture and arson since almost immediately after the end of the first round of elections on March 29.

On Tuesday, the Pan-African Parliament observer mission said that "violence is at the top of the agenda of this electoral process," and said it had received "many horrendous stories."

Churches, doctors and human rights agencies dealing with victims of the violence say that members of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party have been overwhelmingly named as the perpetrators.

Mbeki has been widely criticized for his handling of the volatile situation in Zimbabwe, declaring in May there was "no crisis."

The MDC says Tsvangirai wrote to Mbeki earlier this month to condemn his chairmanship of regional mediation attempts between the two sides, and accused him of being openly biased in favour of the 84-year-old Mugabe. (dpa)