Cape Town — Zimbabwe's new unity government is appealing for U.S. $2 billion over the next 10 months to help it deal with emergencies and to kickstart the economy, South Africa's finance minister, Trevor Manuel, said in an interview broadcast Thursday.

Manuel told South Africa's public broadcaster that a document had been tabled at talks with the Zimbabweans which referred to two amounts of about a billion dollars each: one to deal with urgent needs in areas such as education, health, sanitation and water supplies, and one to help re-stimulate business and the economy.

An aid package for Zimbabwe is among the items on the agenda of a meeting of finance and foreign ministers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) taking place in Cape Town this week.

President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa said during a news conference with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Pretoria on Wednesday that the finance ministers would "develop a response to the request from the Zimbabwean inclusive government... that would serve as a basis for also approaching the international community..."

After talks between Motlanthe and Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week, the two leaders made clear they could not appeal to the wider international community for help unless SADC - as the guarantor of the agreement which produced the unity government - gave the first commitment.

At the same time, Manuel said a comprehensive package would have to be multi-lateral and involve a wide range of parties.

Ban's senior advisor on humanitarian affairs, Catherine Bragg, was reported Thursday as saying in Harare that the UN needed a total of U.S.$500 million to help Zimbabwe meet humanitarian needs. It has so far raised U.S.$85 million, she said.