From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:ZAIRE: Growing concern in U.S. capital over crisis
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 01:19:08 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all 99rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Europe,3
 western
Reference: North America
Title: ZAIRE: Growing concern in U.S. capital over crisis


washington, dec 8 (ips) -- u.s. officials are increasingly
''alarmed'' about the latest crisis in the leadership struggle in
zaire which reportedly resulted in clashes between troops loyal to
president mobutu sese seko and opposition demonstrators in
kinshasa monday.

the clashes followed the deployment of civil guard troops to
prevent a meeting of the high council of the republic appointed 10
days ago by the national conference to act as what one u.s.
official called the ''dominant organ of state'' in the
transitional period between now and elections in 1994.

''the latest round of the crisis is looking quite tense and
dangerous,'' one state department official told ips monday.

he said monday's incident was followed by new appeals by senior
opposition figures for a huge march in the capital at the end of
the week.  a similar demonstration led to the shooting of marchers
by troops loyal to mobutu earlier this year.

the official told ips washington had been informed by the
president of the high council, archbishop laurent monsengwo
pasinya, that mobutu had agreed to call off his soldiers and
permit the council to meet tuesday.

if the meeting goes ahead, the situation could be ''defused'',
said the official who talked with ips on the condition he not be
identified. if not, ''another big march will almost certainly be
held, and we're very concern about what could happen,'' he said.

he added that washington has made its position ''abundantly
evident'' -- that ''mobutu is wrong and (prime minister etienne)
tshisekedi and the archbishop are right.''

''we've sort of done all we can at this stage, other than
intervene,'' the official said, adding, ''there is absolutely no
intention to intervene in zaire.''

the latest round in the leadership crisis has built up since
the opposition-dominated national conference elected tshisekedi as
prime minister last august.

mobutu has since tried both to fire and to ignore tshisekedi
and has been deaf to repeated public appeals by france, belgium,
and the united states to transfer ''all day-to-day powers to the
transitional government''' headed by the prime minister.
(more/ips)

zaire: growing concern in u.s. capital over crisis(2-e)

zaire: growing concern (2)

ten days ago, president george bush sent a letter to mobutu
repeating those appeals, while the three governments issued a
joint statement calling on the zairean leader of 27 years to
cooperate with the transition.

of special concern to washington and its western allies was
that both mobutu and his central bank chief continue to press
banks elsewhere in the country to accept large denomination bank
notes which were printed and distributed last month.

the notes were declared illegal by the tshisekedi government
which has been trying to work with the world bank and the
international monetary fund (imf) to devise an economic
stabilisation plan that will permit the united states and western
european nations to resume aid to kinshasa.

at the same time, mobutu demanded that tshisekedi appoint some
of the president's own political supporters to key cabinet
positions, according to u.s. officials who said washington had
encouraged the prime minister to resist.

over the past weekend, troops loyal to mobutu briefly occupied
tshisekedi's offices, while mobutu himself announced the
appointment of a civil servant to run the government and declared
that he could no longer work with archbishop monsengwo and the new
council.

mobutu, whose reign has been widely criticised for its poor
human rights performance and massive corruption, has presided over
an economic free fall which began almost two years ago when unpaid
soldiers sparked off rioting in kinshasa and elsewhere in the
country.

on monday, his troops surrounded the people's palace where the
council was supposed to meet, setting off clashes between them and
opposition figures.

also over the weekend, the christian lay committee called for a
mass uprising to overthrow mobutu and set friday as the date when
this was to take place.

mobutu, who has been criticised over the years for serious
human rights abuses and massive corruption, has presided over a
two-year economic decline which has brought the country to the
verge of complete collapse, according to analysts here.

bush, however, has refused to call on mobutu to step down -- a
course urged on him by republican and democratic lawmakers and
some of his own top intelligence and diplomatic officials.

one official said such a call by bush now is unlikely to make
much difference.  ''he's ignored us on everything else,'' he said.
(end/ips/jl/yjc/92)

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