FRIDAY, 8.00AM
NELSON MANDELA has sent President Mobutu Sese Seko a proposal that he hand over power to a transitional authority, and given him until Monday to respond. Mandela said he was confident of a resolution of the Zaire war, after two hours of talks with rebel leader Laurent Kabila in Cape Town.
Neither Kabila nor South African sources would comment on whether the rebels have agreed to a ceasefire until Monday. It is believed that Mobutu has been asked to resign within 24 hours of signing the agreement, to make way for a joint transitional authority, de facto dominated by the rebels. In return, Mobutu and his family will be allowed to remain in the country, with all the privileges of a retired head of state.
THURSDAY, 4.00PM
LAURENT KABILA flew into Cape Town this afternoon for talks with President Nelson Mandela, who arived back from the Congo this morning. Kabila’s chief aide, Moise Nyarugabo Muhizi, said: “Today we give peace talks a last chance. Our president’s going to South Africa is the last chance. … We stopped the war because of the talks. If there are no talks, what is there for us to do?”
The increasingly frail President Sese Seko Mobutu, meanwhile, flew back to Kinshasa, ignoring an honour guard to climb up the back steps of his plane. He is to hold separate meetings in Kinshasa with South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki.
THURSDAY, 8.00AM
NELSON MANDELA returned home empty-handed last night, after rejecting a demand by Laurent Kabila that the peace talks ship Outeniqua move out into international waters.
President Mobutu Sese Seko arrived for the talks in the Congo port of Pointe Noire, but Kabila, waiting in Cabinda, Angola, did not arrive. UN envoy Mohamed Sahnoun then announced to reporters that Mandela had turned down a demand from Kabila that the ship move out on to the high seas. “Therefore the meeting will not be held.”