U.S. Seeks Resignation Of Mobutu Officials Use Back Channels To Push Zaire Leader Into Exile

The Clinton administration has been pressing Zaire’s President Mobutu Sese Seko, a close U.S. Cold War ally for 25 years, to resign and go into exile to help achieve a peaceful settlement of the civil war there, according to a senior administration official.

The U.S. message has been conveyed to Mobutu in recent weeks by various African leaders including King Hassan of Morocco, according to another American source, who is close to the Mobutu family.

Although the administration has stopped short of publicly urging Mobutu to step down, a top U.S. diplomat made America’s wishes clear in a statement Tuesday on Capitol Hill. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs George E. Moose called Mobutu’s regime “bankrupt” and “a thing of the past.”

So far Mobutu, 66, who is reportedly gravely ill with prostate cancer, has not responded to the U.S. message. He is hanging on even as the remnants of his disintegrating army battle rebels who have seized a quarter of the country.