President Mobutu Sese Seko’s besieged government said Friday it had sent fresh troops into the latest major city targeted by rebels who now control more than half of Zaire.

Mobutu also agreed to meet rebel leader Laurent Kabila in the neighboring Gabonese capital, Libreville, for talks aimed at ending the seven-month civil war, according to a statement released by Bagon’s president, Omar Bongo.

The statement said efforts were being made to get Kabila to the table and that South African President Nelson Mandela would chair the talks.

Mobutu spokesman Kabuya Lumuna said he was awaiting the rebel response.

Kabila was in Lusaka, Zambia, on Friday, which he recently said could be another venue for talks. Kabila has insisted such talks must lead to Mobutu agreeing to end his nearly 32-year dictatorship.

Meanwhile, the government announced plans to send troops into the city of Kikwit, the next major city in the path of the rebel army marching westward toward the capital of Kinshasa.

“The town is calm, but it’s a precarious calm,” said Kamitatu Massamba, a veteran politician from Kikwit, 250 miles east of Kinshasa.