Zaire’s President To Meet Rebel Leader

In what could emerge as the major diplomatic breakthrough to end Zaire’s civil war, President Mobutu Sese Seko has agreed in principle to meet Laurent Kabila, the rebel whose forces have seized half the country in a drive to end Mobutu’s 32-year grip on power.

The agreement was announced in Cape Town by U.N. envoy Mohamed Sahnoun shortly after a formal invitation to peace talks was issued by South African President Nelson Mandela. The talks are expected to take place “very soon,” a South African official said.

Diplomats in Kinshasa said the embattled Mobutu, whose army has folded in each encounter with the rebels and whose treasury has been reported empty, has been forced to drop his longtime insistence that a cease-fire precede any meeting with his rival.

Diplomats see the meeting as a means for Mobutu to save face before making an exit and thereby spare Kinshasa and the rest of the country a traumatic final struggle.