Mbeki urges donors to renew DRC aid efforts

President Thabo Mbeki will meet with his Indian and Brazilian counterparts today

President Thabo Mbeki has appealed to international donors to renew their aid efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Mbeki made the appeal in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, where he held talks with Joseph Kabila, the DRC president, and Jean-Pierre Bemba, the vice president.

Kabila and Bemba will face each other at the polls next month, after no outright majority winner emerged from the historic July elections.

Mbeki says the main priority for the role-players will be to create the necessary political climate for the polls. "The transitional government is very critical in terms of creating a conducive political climate, which would mean that the institutions of government will function normally," says Mbeki.

Meanwhile, some 1.7 million Congolese remain homeless, mainly in the east where the militia has refused to disarm.