Mobutu Clings to Presidency Even as He Calls for Elections

LIBREVILLE, Gabon — President Mobutu Sese Seko abandoned plans to run for reelection and called on his military Thursday to prepare Zaire for a vote. Still, he clung to his presidency and angrily rejected suggestions that he would not return to Zaire.

Mobutu made the pledge in a statement that he and five other African leaders issued from Gabon.

The editor of the government-run daily newspaper L’Union, Ngoyo Moussavou, said Thursday that the Zairian president planned to return to his country this morning.

There was no confirmation from the Zairian government.

Western diplomats, meanwhile, pushed for a peace settlement between Mobutu and rebel leader Laurent Kabila.

“The next few days are critical for peace in Zaire,” U.S. envoy Bill Richardson said in Paris. He briefed French diplomats after his 10-day shuttle diplomacy, which included several meetings with Kabila and Mobutu.

“The ultimate solution will involve a transitional government--there’s going to be a change in Zaire,” Richardson said.

In a statement, the leaders of five regional Zairian allies called on the Zairian Armed Forces to prepare for the ballot and said Mobutu was too ill to run in the elections.

The heads of state--the presidents of Gabon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and Chad--and the foreign minister of Cameroon kept Mobutu waiting in the guest room of the presidential palace while they prepared the joint statement.

The statement made no mention of Mobutu resigning or giving power to a transitional authority that would include Kabila, as the rebel chief has demanded.

Since promising a transition to democracy in 1990, Mobutu has repeatedly postponed the country’s first multi-party elections. But with mounting international pressure and the rebels closing in on the capital, Kinshasa, he has in recent weeks repeated his promise.