Word: rebels
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KINSHASA: As Laurent Kabila?s rebels entered Zaire's second largest city Lubumbashi to the sound of cheering crowds, preparing to move on Kinshasa, ailing Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko made a feeble attempt to regain the power he held for three decades, ousting the country's new prime minister Etienne Tshisekedi and naming the army chief of staff to head the government. The White House demanded that Mobutu step down and go into exile, effectively ending U.S. support of the African dictator. "Mobutuism is about to become a creature of history," White House press secretary Mike McCurry said. Tshisekedi...
KINSHASA, Zaire: The new prime minister of Zaire wants rebel leaders to join the party. Etienne Tshisekedi, a longtime Mobutu opponent, offered rebels a slew of government posts, including defense minister, in hopes of deflating the rebellion he is suddenly in charge of stopping. Rebel leaders aren't biting. "This doesn't go with our political demands," rebel spokesman Raphael Ghenda told France Info today. "Mobutu must be deposed from power and the Alliance must be assured of a democratic transition." Kabila once was friendly with Tshisekedi and his opposition party. But as the rebels advance south towards Lubumbashi...
Mobutu, no doubt, would dearly love to demolish such boastfulness. But at the moment he is preoccupied by an enemy even more formidable than the rebel legions. For the past seven months the Zairian President has been undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. In December he rose from his sickbed at his villa on the French Riviera, declaring that he was returning to Zaire to "take things in hand." Supporters greeted him with euphoria but swiftly discerned that Mobutu was incapable of dealing with problems he needed to solve. He shunned the opposition and said nothing about appointing a successor...
...assistance didn't end there. The rebel leader stays in close touch with his foreign patrons. At least twice each week, Museveni talks with Kabila on a satellite phone and dispenses what he calls "political advice." Museveni denies Zairian claims that large numbers of his troops are fighting with the rebels, but diplomats do not rule out the possibility that the assistance he provides Kabila has been more than verbal...
...Virtually alone, Austrian former Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, an envoy for the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, tried to come up with some international relief. He met with the new Albanian Prime Minister, Bashkim Fino, on Friday, then went to the southern port of Vlora to talk with rebel leaders. But it seemed doubtful that his rounds would be any more effective than the prayer of Mother Teresa, who from Calcutta said of her fellow Albanians, "May God bring them joy, prosperity, peace and unity." First of all, Albania is in need of sanity...