Kabila says troops will stay

The summit was held in Zimbabwe despite the elections

The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo says foreign troops will remain in the country as long as there is a military threat to his government.

President Laurent Kabila's comments followed a three-hour summit with his two military allies Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Mr Kabila arrives for the three hour summit

"We need our allied troops all the time when there is a threat in Congo," President Kabila said.

"It depends on the aggressors."

Rebel backers

Rwandan and Ugandan forces are backing an anti-Kabila rebellion in the country and the UN has ordered them out along with all other foreign forces.

The president met with his Namibian and Zimbabwe counterparts, Sam Nujoma and Robert Mugabe, as Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections were in full swing.

A third ally, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, did not attend.

Laurent Kabila has called the organiser of inter-Congolese dialogue, Ketumile Masire, the former Botswana president "partial" and accused him of wanting to rule Congo.

We need our allied troops all the time when there is a threat in Congo

Laurent Kabila

"Masire wished to be the governor-general of the DR Congo, we could not accept that," Mr Kabila told a news conference after the summit.

"We have already asked the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to propose another facilitator," he said.

Kisangani

Meanwhile rebels in DR Congo say they will pull out most of their troops from Kisangani and hand it over to the United Nations, in order to ease tensions in the city.

A spokesman for the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy said some would remain in the city centre to guard strategic installations including two airports.

The spokesman said the rebels' decision came after talks with the head of the United Nations observer mission in DR Congo.

Rwandan and Ugandan troops which back rival rebel groups have already left Kisangani under a United Nations agreement.

But neither side has completed the 100-mile withdrawal from the city centre.