Kabila allies gather in Kinshasa

Key allies of President Laurent Kabila are visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The presidents of Zimbabwe and Namibia -- Robert Mugabe and Sam Nujoma -- are already in the Congolese capital Kinshasa and an Angolan delegation is expected later in the day.

No details have been given of the aim of the talks, but correspondents point out that President Mugabe, in particular, has been coming under increasing pressure to withdraw his troops from Congo.

President Kabila yesterday Thursday went to Gabon for what were billed as peace talks, but representatives of the two main rebel groups did not turn up. One rebel leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba, called today for the Gabonese president, Omar Bongo, to be replaced as mediator by the former president of Botswana, Ketumile Masire.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service