TUESDAY, 5.30PM
DEPOSED Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who fled to Togo as Laurent Kabila’s rebels consolidated their control over the country, is reportedly in a very weak state of health and overstaying his welcome in the tiny West African state.
Mobutu’s arrival in Togo caught his old friend, fellow francophone dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, off guard, said an official speaking on condition of anonymity. “Everyone — including President Eyadema — was surprised,” the official said. He added that authorities in Togo “barely tolerate” the presence of Mobutu and his huge entourage.
Opposition newspapers were on Tuesday describing Mobutu’s arrival as an “insult to the Togolese people”.
Eyadema is housing Mobutu and his close family at a presidential residence in Lome that he does not otherwise use. However, well over 100 family members have taken hotel rooms, and senior Mobutu aides and security personnel are also in the city.
The same cargo plane which delivered Mobutu to Togo returned to Lome on Monday morning — it was not clear where from — and Mobutu clan members unloaded piles of luggage and a limousine.
In a meeting on Monday night, Eyadema and Mobutu discussed the date of his eventual departure, for Morocco or France. Eyadema evidently hopes that it is Wednesday, because that is how long he has detailed security guards at Mobutu’s temporary residence.
Togolese government sources say Mobutu is insisting to Eyadema that he leaves Togo on a different plane to the cargo craft he arrived on. His advanced prostate cancer — he was described as looking “in really bad shape, very weakened’ — means that he needs a comfortable plane for a long trip.
Moroccan officials have said Mobutu is headed there, but will be welcome only for a short stay, on his way to France, where he owns a lavish villa on the French Riviera, where he has spent much of the last few months recuperating from prostate cancer.
Mobutu also owns properties in Switzerland, Belgium and South Africa. But Switzerland has frozen his assets, and Belgium and South Africa have been quick to embrace Kabila. France, cool to Kabila, is the most likely address. However, the French government has denied Mobutu has requested asylum.
TUESDAY, 5.00PM
BOTSWANA on Tuesday became the latest country to officially recognise the Kabila government. The European Union, meanwhile, has steered clear of recognising Kabila as head of state, calling instead for Kabila to hold elections and respect human rights.