PRESIDENT Mobutu Sese Seko is to leave Zaire today, after the rebel leader, Mr Laurent Kabila, gave him three days to depart or be "chased from power".
Although Mr Mobutu is ostensibly leaving for an unplanned regional summit and is due to return on Friday, speculation is rife that the ailing autocrat's departure will be permanent.
As Mr Kabila's forces close in on the capital, rebel radio yesterday called on government soldiers in Kinshasa to surrender and avoid a bloodbath. But Mr Mobutu's high command said it would fight on and claimed to have reversed the rebel advance.
UN agencies yesterday stepped up security precautions, evacuating a handful of non-essential staff. A senior UN source said those remaining were heads of agencies and a few key staff.
Mr Mobutu is due to fly to Gabon to meet three of Africa's less influential leaders, foreign diplomats, who have been trying to massage Mr Mobutu from office, are cautiously anticipating he may finally have given up the struggle,
Crucially, he plans to be away during the three days which Mr Kabila has given him to leave or face an assault on Kinshasa, The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire claims to be less than 50 miles from the city and advancing by the day.
Pamphlets issued in the rebels' name appeared on Kinshasa's streets. They reassured the population that the alliance's "valiant combatants" have infiltrated the capital, and appealed to the population to remain calm and to demonstrate support for the rebels by wearing white headbands.
But while there is undoubted backing for the rebels in Kinshasa, there were no signs that people felt secure enough to demonstrate it by wearing symbols of support,
A myriad of newspapers carry wild conspiracy claims - for example, that Mr Mobutu is really ii prisoner on a South African ship and his final act will be to bombard Kinshasa with radiation from an experimental nuclear reactor at the university.
The rebels claim Mr Mobutu's fleeing forces have ransacked his flamboyant palace at Gbadolite, the President's ancestral village.
Mr Mobutu's government made its own claims of military success yesterday. A spokesman said the army had killed 500 rebels in a battle to retake the town of Kenge, I 25 miles east of the capital,
Meanwhile, South Africa's deputy President, Mr Thaho Mbeki, will today start a six-nation African tour, including a visit to Zaire, to try keep peace efforts on track there, the Foreign Affairs department said. "It is hoped that during these visits, agreement will he reached on the way forward, through broad consultation," it said.