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Zimbabwe's government has withdrawn an invitation to the UN's investigator on torture, Manfred Nowak, hours before he was due to land in the country. Mr Nowak said he would travel to Zimbabwe despite the snub. It comes amid claims that supporters of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party have launched a campaign of violence on MDC members - their coalition partners. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, withdrew co-operation with the unity government two weeks ago. He was angry at perceived failure of Zanu-PF to implement measures agreed to as a part of the power-sharing deal and the jailing of a senior Movement for Democratic Change member on terrorism charges that he says are trumped up. The BBC's Karen Allen, in neighbouring South Africa, says the decision to cancel the trip is bound to be seen by some as a battle of wills between the two major parties. And ahead of a regional meeting on the crisis, human rights group Amnesty International has warned the country is on the brink of sliding back into last year's post-election violence. Mr Nowak said he had received "two completely different messages" from the Zimbabwean government - but he said he would meet Mr Tsvangirai on Thursday. � Recent allegations that MDC supporters and human rights defenders have been arrested, harassed and intimidated... highlight the urgency of objective fact-finding � UN statement "I got the clear message from the prime minister that it is his understanding that the mission is going on," he said. "That leads me to the conclusion that there must be some kind of misunderstanding between the different cabinet members." The United Nations says Mr Nowak - the special rapporteur on torture - was informed of the cancellation only when he was in South Africa on his way to Zimbabwe. He had been invited by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa - a Zanu-PF member - to meet officials and rights activists, inspect prisons and police stations and compile a report for the Security Council. But the UN said Harare had called off the visit because of an unanticipated meeting with the southern African regional group, Sadc. A Sadc team is due in Harare on Thursday to try to resolve the political crisis. The UN said in a statement that Mr Nowak welcomed "all efforts to resolve the political crisis", but that the Sadc meeting was not a valid reason to cancel his visit. "Recent allegations that MDC supporters and human rights defenders have been arrested, harassed and intimidated during the past few days, highlight the urgency of objective fact-finding by an independent UN expert," the UN said. On Tuesday, Mr Tsvangirai's MDC party said there had been an increase in violent attacks on its members. Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said a senior official had been stopped and beaten by Zanu-PF supporters on Tuesday morning. Days earlier, an MDC residence was raided by police. Zanu-PF has described the comments as "cheap propaganda".