No Deal On Peace For Zaire Mobutu Says He’ll Yield Power, But Not To Rebel Leader Kabila
As rebel troops advanced to within 40 miles of Zaire’s capital, hopes of averting a bloody battle for the city dimmed Sunday when President Mobutu Sese Seko and rebel leader Laurent Kabila adjourned their first meeting without agreeing on how Mobutu should step down.
For the first time, Mobutu publicly said he would give up authority, but he insisted on handing power to an elected president and not immediately to Kabila as the rebel commander demanded.
The two leaders agreed to meet again within 10 days to discuss their differences. But Kabila said his troops would continue to march on Kinshasa, the Zairian capital, and officials said the rebels could reach its outskirts within several days.
“I made it clear a cease-fire is out of the question and my forces will continue to advance on all fronts,” Kabila said after the meeting. “If we make it to Kinshasa before the eight days, then too bad, but we cannot wait while he makes up his mind.”
As the talks took place, aid workers reported that more than 100 Rwandan refugees were crushed to death and 50 injured in a train en route to the Zairian city of Kisangani. They said panic broke out on the train, which was part of a U.N. effort to repatriate the refugees, who reportedly have been mistreated by the rebels.
Mining company officials reported that the rebels were sighted within 40 miles of Kinshasa’s airport, and the insurgents also occupied the city of Mbanza-Ngungu southwest of the capital. In Lubumbashi, the rebel headquarters in southeastern Zaire, hundreds of rebel soldiers boarded planes to take them to the front lines along with heavy equipment.
The talks between Mobutu and Kabila took place after two days of delays and persistent coaxing by U.S. and South African mediators, who were hoping for a quick cessation of hostilities to avert a destructive battle for Kinshasa. Diplomats would like Mobutu’s corrupt, meddlesome regime replaced by a broad-based, democratic government that would encourage stability in central Africa.
The rivals met for an hour and a half aboard a South African ship docked in the Congo port of Pointe Noire. The atmosphere for the talks was set at a news conference beforehand, when Mobutu appeared stern-faced and sad after boarding the ship hand-in-hand with his wife, Bobi.
Kabila stood nearby, smiling.
South African diplomats said they expected Mobutu would agree to step down. They presented the two sides a plan under which the autocrat, who is ill with prostate cancer, would cite his health as a reason to resign and then transfer power to an interim president until elections could be held.
Kabila and Mobutu had other ideas. The ailing despot did not offer to resign immediately, but proposed a cease-fire, the creation of an interim government and then presidential elections. Mobutu said he would then hand power to whoever won those elections.
The Mobutu offer was rejected by Kabila after consultation with his advisers. He insisted that Mobutu cede power immediately to the rebels. He said the rebels would serve as a transitional authority, though he did not mention elections.
“Mobutu wants power transferred to another person, who in turn would negotiate with President Kabila, but for us, that’s unacceptable,” rebel negotiator Bizimi Karaha said.
After the meeting, South African President Nelson Mandela said he would convene a second round of talks on the ship in eight to 10 days “to narrow the gap between the two parties.” Mobutu left the ship without speaking and reportedly was on his way back to Kinshasa. Kabila’s aides said he planned to return to Angola.
The abrupt end to the short talks, and the two rivals’ refusal to compromise after weeks of preparations, raised fears that Zaire’s seven-month war will come to the violent end many dread. Earlier in the day, some Kinshasans began celebrating news that Mobutu would resign, but many later questioned whether the two leaders sincerely wanted peace and whether South African mediators lost an opportunity to pressure them.
U.S. envoy Bill Richardson handled the tough job Tuesday of delivering the message to Mobutu that he had no other option than to step aside and possibly go into exile. But Richardson, the American ambassador to the United Nations, did not take part in Sunday’s talks, leaving the job of mediating to the South Africans.
“In eight days, many things can happen,” said an adviser to one of Mobutu’s Cabinet ministers. “They should have kept Mobutu on the boat and forced him to resign. He won’t come back.”
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