THURSDAY, 2.00PM:
PEACE talks between Zairean president Mobutu Sese Seko and rebel leader Laurent Kabila will take place on Saturday aboard the SA Navy supply ship SAS Outeniqua. The talks were originally scheduled for Friday, but were delayed due to logistical problems.
The talks will take place in international waters off the coasts of Zaire and Angola and will be chaired by SA President Nelson Mandela, accompanied by his deputy Thabo Mbeki Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad, and UN special negotiator Mohamed Sahnoun. US special envoy Bill Rachardson, in Zaire to facilitate the talks, will also attend.
THURSDAY, 8.00AM:
DITHERING Zaire president Mobutu Sese Seko has been persuaded by US envoy Bill Richardson that he has no option but to attend the talks. Richardson announced after meeting the president that he had “in a statesmanlike and patriotic fashion” retreated from the objections he made earlier in the morning. (see below).
WEDNESDAY, 2.30PM:
ZAIREAN President Mobutu Sese Seko has objected to meeting rebel leader Laurent Kabila on the SA Navy supply ship SAS Outeniqua, his son told AFP today. Mobutu Nzanga said his father “does not want the ship” as a venue for the long-awaited meeting.
“It’s too premature to talk of a meeting,” Nzanga added. “You cannot shift venues every two days. [Gabonese President] Omar Bongo has proposed holding this meeting in Gabon and the president has accepted,” he said, referring to another suggested location.
SA foreign ministry spokesman Pieter Swanepoel said today key negotiators had been “indirectly” informed that Mobutu had objected to the warship. However, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said today that he was surprised to hear that Mobutu objected to using a SA Navy ship for the talks. Pahad said that as far as the SA government is concerned, Mobutu and Kabila had agreed to meet on the Outeniqua, which will be anchored in international waters off the coast of Zaire.
Following his talks with Kabila last night, US special envoy Bill Richardson said that although Kabila and Mobutu had agreed to meet, details of the venue and date remain unresolved. “As you heard Kabila say, he’s agreed to face-to-face talks. Mobutu has agreed to face-to-face talks. They are ready to proceed as soon as possible, this weekend or earlier,” Richardson said.
Meanwhile, United Nations special envoy Mohamed Sahnoun, who has been in Pretoria for the past week, left for Central Africa this morning for further consultations and to “try to overcome this obstacle”.