FRIDAY, 6.00PM
ZAIRE’S president Mobutu Sese Seko fled from Kinshasa today (Friday). The Zairean government announced that “the president has decided to stand aside in order not to appear as an obstacle to a negotiated settlement and to constitutional order.”
“Marshal Mobutu has left it to his government to carry on running the political life of the nation.” The communique did not indicate he had formally renounced his role as head of state, but did say that he had flown out of Kinshasa this morning, headed for his home in Gbadolite, northern Zaire.br> Other reports indicate the Mobutu is bound for Morocco. Diplomats there say he has requested permission to ‘stop over” there within the next two days, and that President Nelson Mandela phoned Morocco’s King Hassan II lst night (Thursday) on Mobutu’s behalf. Hassan and Mobutu have long had close ties.br> The United States has offered rebel leader Laurent Kabila $10 million in assistance to hold elections soon after his expected takeover, and has assured him that European governments will also contribute.br> But Kabila has indicated he intends to keep control for up to five years, although he would be willing to hold some legislative elections fairly quickly.
Right now, the major fear is that the inevitable final rebel assault on Kinshasa may still be bloody. The rebels were reported to be as close as 35 kilometres from Kinshasa on Friday afternoon.
Across the Congo river, US marines rehearsed helicopter drops on Kinshasa today, in preparation for the possible evacuation of US and other foreign nationals.
Swiss authorities announced that they have impounded a luxury villa belonging to Mobutu, at the request of the rebel authorities in Lubumbashi.