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Kabila agrees to second round of talks with Mobutu
Latest developments:
- Rebels to delay military action
- Mobutu agrees to elections, will not run
- Aides say Mobutu will not resign
- Mobutu supporters rally in Kinshasa
May 9, 1997
Web posted at: 8:07 p.m. EDT (0007 GMT)KINSHASA, Zaire (CNN ) -- Zairian rebel leader Laurent Kabila agreed Friday to delay any military action until after a second meeting next week with President Mobutu Sese Seko in an attempt to end the country's civil war, a mediator said.
And despite speculation that Mobutu would choose exile over continued conflict, his son said the ailing president planned to fly home to Kinshasa on Saturday.
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The meeting between Mobutu and Kabila is scheduled to take place Wednesday aboard a South African naval vessel in Pointe Noire, Congo.
Kabila agreed to the meeting during talks with South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki Friday in the Zairian city of Lubumbashi. Mbeki and other diplomats have been working to arrange a peaceful settlement, and to avoid a bloody and destructive battle for Kinshasa.
Holding off on military action
"Mr. Kabila says he is committed to the peaceful resolution of the Zaire conflict," Mbeki told reporters after the meeting. "He is willing to give diplomacy a chance and our understanding is he will not proceed with the military campaign until after next week's meeting."
Mbeki said he assumed that Mobutu would attend the meeting, but left immediately for Libreville, Gabon, where he planned to meet with Mobutu Saturday morning.
Nzanga Mobutu, the president's son and spokesman, said his father would return to Zaire after talks with Mbeki in Libreville.
"The president will return to Kinshasa shortly afterward," his son said.
"People outside (Zaire) are saying that President Mobutu will go into exile. This is bringing panic. (But) they do not know the president," the younger Mobutu said.
Mobutu agrees to elections, will not run
Mobutu has been in Gabon since Wednesday, where he attended a meeting of French-speaking African leaders. He was scheduled to leave Friday, but delayed his departure for further meetings and was staying in the palace of President Omar Bongo.
On Thursday, Mobutu and the five other leaders at the summit in Libreville drew up a statement in which Mobutu pledged to allow elections and said he was too ill to run himself. The ailing 66-year-old dictator has prostate cancer.
There was no mention of Mobutu resigning or giving power to a transitional authority that would include Kabila, as the rebel leader has demanded.
Despite Kabila's apparent willingness to meet with Mobutu again, the rebels have lost none of their feistiness. Dr. Bizima Karaha, a rebel spokesman, predicted the second round of talks would not last long.
"Now President Mobutu has realized that he does not have any more alternatives," Karaha said. "He has used all his cards, so I sincerely believe that this meeting will be more important than the first one because Mobutu will come to resign."
Aides say Mobutu will not resign
Karaha also said that any move to get Mobutu to turn over power to a transitional government or figure would be unacceptable to the rebels.
"We are not fighting Mobutu," he said, "we are fighting a system, and in that parliament there are people who are part of that system. It's just a maneuver of giving power to somebody, shifting but in the same cycle."
Mobutu's aides say he has no intention of resigning or turning power over to a transitional government, but pressure is looming on every side.
Political parties in the parliament released a statement Friday supporting Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for Liberation of Congo-Zaire and its forceful overthrow of the government. Noting that peaceful demands had failed, their communique read, in part, "The only language understood by those in power is the language of arms."
"We proclaim our support for the Alliance's platform and call on the Alliance to use their weapons in a manner that will permit it to achieve the goals" of democracy, it said.
Mobutu supporters rally in Kinshasa
The parties signing the communique included the National Federation of Christian Democrats and the Zairian Association of former National Police Officers and Agents. Although they hold little power in the transitional parliament, it is the first time that political parties have publicly supported Kabila.
Meanwhile, the government still maintains that it controls the area around the town of Kenge, 120 miles to the east. Fighting has been especially heavy there, and rebels say former Rwandan Hutu soldiers and Angolan troops from Jonas Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) made up the bulk of troops on the government side.
In the capital Friday, several hundred Mobutu supporters rallied in front of the U.S. Embassy calling for his return. The Zairian government has accused the United States of joining Uganda and Rwanda in their support of Kabila's movement to unseat Mobutu.
The demonstrators called for peaceful negotiations and waved placards reading, "We don't want a blood bath in our dear capital."
Correspondent Mike Hanna and Reuters contributed to this report.
Special section:
CNN Interactive's extended coverageRelated stories:
- Mobutu delays return to Zaire - May 9, 1997
- Mobutu's next move? - May 8, 1997
- Mobutu leaves Zaire and heavy fighting behind - May 7, 1997
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