CAPE TOWN, South Africa - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that Zimbabwe's crisis is a regional and international problem, and urged its president to be more receptive to efforts by neighboring countries like South Africa to find solutions.

He also said it was no longer realistic for African leaders to rely on their traditional policy of noninterference in neighbor's affairs.

"In this day and age, very few crises remain internal for long," he said. "I would encourage countries in crisis to listen to their neighbors and to work with them to solve the conflict because you cannot say it is an internal affair, particularly when it has an impact on your neighbors," Annan said.

Annan gave a brief news conference with South African President Thabo Mbeki at the start of a two-week tour which will take him through five African nations. He will not visit Zimbabwe during his current tour but said he planned to travel there before he leaves office in December.

Mbeki is seen as one of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's main foreign allies. He has relied on quiet diplomacy rather than open criticism to try to encourage Mugabe to embrace political and economic reforms, but to little avail. With Zimbabwe's economy in free fall, South Africa is increasingly nervous about a flood of economic refugees from its northern neighbor. But, at least in public, Mbeki insists that Zimbabwe must solve its own problems without meddling by South Africa.

U.N. officials have clashed repeatedly with Mugabe's government following last year's slum destruction campaign. In a report last year, U.N. envoy Anna Tibaijuka said the Operation Restore Order had left some 700,000 people without homes or livelihoods and said those responsible should be punished. U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said in December that it would take Zimbabwe decades to build new shelter for the displaced.

"The situation in Zimbabwe is extremely difficult," Annan told journalists. "It is difficult for Zimbabweans, it's difficult for the region and it's difficult for the world."

"When any country gets caught in a downward spiral of poverty, misgovernment and conflict, this is bound to be a problem for its neighbors," he said in a subsequent speech to parliament, without naming names. "And the best neighbors are those who play a constructive part in helping to halt and reverse the spiral before it leads to a complete meltdown."

In his speech to parliament, Annan praised South Africa for being testimony to the powers of reconciliation after the evils of apartheid.

"South Africa reminds us all of the remarkable African capacity for forgiveness and reconciliation, despite the pain of racial discrimination and oppression," he said.

"Your robust economy, stable democracy, support for the rule of law and _ perhaps most important - your fully inclusive constitution, have made South Africa a beacon of tolerance, peaceful coexistence, and mutual respect between people of different races, languages and traditions."

Mbeki said his meeting with Annan focussed on ongoing peace efforts in the Ivory Coast and Congo. South Africa has mediated in both countries to try to smooth the way for elections.

Mbeki plans to visit Congo on Thursday for talks with President Joseph Kabila as part of its ongoing efforts to consolidate peace efforts and the transition to democracy, with elections provisionally slated for June this year. Annan will also visit the vast Europe-sized nation during his tour.

At an evening reception, Mbeki paid tribute to Annan, who stands down at the end of the year after 10 years in office.

"I am proud that a world leader, who is an African, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, has had the courage to stand up against the seeming blood-dimmed tide, to point humanity in another and more humane direction," Mbeki said.

Annan also visited a rape counseling and care center in Cape Town. He plans to meet anti-apartheid icon and former President Nelson Mandela on Wednesday before leaving for the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar.