ZAIRE-POLITICS: Mobutu’s Days Appear Numbered

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

LONDON, May 4 1997 (IPS) - Television screens across Europe are full of images of rebel soldiers advancing on the Zairean capital of Kinshasa in what appears to be the final push to oust President Mobutu Sese Seko.

Mobutu, in power since 1965, has lost two-thirds of his territory to the rebel Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire which launched its guerrilla war six months ago. This week Kikwit, a town located some 240 kilometres west of Kinshasa, fell to the Alliance, sending a wave of panic through the capital’s 5 million residents, which was faityhfully recorded on television.

TV viewers, however, see very little on on the plight of Zaireans. What dominates the screens is the plight of Rwandese Hutu refugees, caught in the conflict, and efforts by Britain, the United States, France and Belgium to evacuate their nationals from Kinshasa.

Britain, which has deployed troops on the river dividing Kinshasa and Brazaville, the capital of neighbouring Congo, has urged its nationals to leave immediately.

The British Foreign Office told British nationals to move out while scheduled flights and ferries were still operating. “The longer you delay, the more difficult your subsequent departure will become,” said a statement broadcast over the World Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Estimates in the European media put the the number of Westerners in Kinshasa at about 7,000, including 500 Britons, 3,000 Belgians, about 1,000 French and 650 Americans. A motley navy task force from Britain, France, the United States and Belgium have arrived in Zaire and neighbouring Congo, preparing to evacuate their nationals.

But a full-scale evacuation operation has not yet began as they are awaiting the outcome of this weekend’s proposed tete-a-tete between Mobutu and rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila on board a South African war ship.

The mediators, South African president Nelson Mandela and U.S. envoy Bill Richardson, believe that the talks would ensure a smooth transition of power. Richardson, who is the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in New York, met with both Mobutu and Kabila this week, and urged the two leaders to attend the talks.

Herman Cohen, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, regretted this week that Washington had been sending junior officials to meet with Kabila. “I think there is a need for the United States to send senior officials to hold talks with Zairean officials,” he told the British ‘Channel Four’ TV station.

Zaire, a Cold War ally of the United States for over three decades, is still an attractive place for American businessmen investing in diamond and copper. Despite his unhapiness with Kabila’s signing investment contracts with a number of western businessmen recently, Cohen said he found the rebel leader to be “a little better than Mobutu”, for setting up structures in the territory that he controls. He said he was also happy to note that Kabila had shed off his Marxist rethorics of the 1960s.

The U.S. became more actively involved in trying to secure a political settlement, starting with a cessation of the hostitilies in February. It supported the U.N.’s five-point plan for peace, and was actively involved in the negotiations hosted by South Africa in late February.

On Mar 21. Secretary of State Madeline Albright wrote to Mobutu to urge immediate and direct negotiations with with the Alliance. She also expressed U.S. support for U.N. special envoy Mohamed Sahnoun’s efforts regarding a cease-fire and negotiations.

A series of talks hosted by president Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya have also taken place in the capital Nairobi in the past few months. The latest, known as Nairobi III, was convened on Mar. 19 in the absence of the Alliance and Rwanda and Uganda, two of its alleged backers. The summit, which was attened by six nations, called for an end to the conflict in Zaire through the urgent implementation of the U.N. five-point peace plan.

It was followed by the Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU) Lome Summit of March 26 which was attended by fourteen heads of state and delegates from the governmentof Zaire and the rebels.

It is not clear what this weekend’s meeting in South Africa will offer to the Zairean belligerents. On his part, Kabila says he will not discuss anything except Mobutu’s departure from Kinshasa.