At an unusual prayer breakfast, South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha urged three black African leaders Wednesday to ``join hands'' in regional cooperation. Botha, who represented President F. W. de Klerk, addressed the heads of state as ``my African brothers'' during the informal meeting, which was punctuated by joking and laughter. The breakfast host was Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, head of the seven-nation Frontline States, a regional bloc that once led efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. The other two leaders were President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, who maintains close contacts with South Africa, and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, the current chairman of the 51-member Organization of African unity. President Bush sent a congratulatory message, saying the meeting ``marks a new era in Africa.'' The get-together over eggs, bacon and croissants signaled a further easing of tensions between white-led South Africa and its anti-apartheid neighbors. Zambian officials said it was made possible by de Klerk's recent steps toward dismantling apartheid, including legalizing the African National Congress, freeing political prisoners including the ANC leader Nelson Mandela, and lifting the state of emergency in black townships. The ANC, outlawed for 30 years in South Africa, had its headquarters in the Zambian capital of Lusaka until early this year. Kaunda, once one of the most vocal African critics of apartheid, said the theme of the meeting was ``peace, unity and reconciliation.'' Botha told the black African leaders that South Africa could help economic development in the largely impoverished region, adding: ``We in Africa must join hands and move closer together.'' ``South Africa must play its rightful role in southern Africa and we are ready to play that role,'' Botha said. Ugandan President Museveni said he got the idea for such a meeting from a prayer breakfast he attended with U.S. congressmen two years ago. He wanted to organize something similar, he said, but as he was not a good Christian he asked Kaunda to be host. Three other African heads of state, Quett Masire of Botswana, Pierre Buyoya of Burundi and Metsing Lekhanya of Lesotho, were invited but did not attend.