Kabila allies gather in Kinshasa

Rebels want to oust President Kabila

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.

On Thursday, President Kabila 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, has called for the Gabonese president, Omar Bongo, to be replaced as mediator by the former president of Botswana, Ketumile Masire.

The rebels, backed by Rwanda and Uganda, are fighting the government forces, which are supported by Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola.

The war in DR Congo has often been dubbed Africa's world war because so many African countries have been drawn into it.

Fighting

Despite an agreed cease-fire, fighting continues to rage in the south-east.

President Chiluba: Concerned Zambia could get dragged in to the conflict

Thousands of Congolese army soldiers and civilians have fled rebel advances and gone over the border into Zambia.

The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, says up to 300 refugees a day are continuing to cross into Zambia. Earlier this month Congolese rebels. seized two southern towns, Pweto and Pepa.

A top official in the Zambian ministry of home affairs has warned of the danger of fighting spilling over into Zambia and the Zambian Government has stationed more than 7,000 soldiers in the area on high alert because of the potentially volatile situation.

There have also been reports recently of continuing clashes in the north-east between the rival Hema and Lendu peoples.