ZAIREAN rebels have warned that they will press ahead with an assault on Kinshasa after peace talks collapsed yesterday despite President Mobutu Sese Seko's offer to resign his 32 year leadership.
The first meeting between the beleaguered Mr Mobutu and the rebel leader, Mr Laurent Kabila, aboard a South African ship off the coast of Congo, disintegrated amid discord over the terms of the President's resignation and who will inherit power.
The host of the negotiations, President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, claimed progress had been made because the two sides had agreed to talk again next week to "narrow the gap", but Mr Kabila said be had no intention of halting his offensive on, the capital, which could come within days.
Rebel forces are reported to be within 40 miles of Kinshasa and massing troops in Kenge, 125 miles away. Mr Kabila said an attack could come almost immediately and that an early target will be Kinshasa's airport.
"I made it clear a ceasefire is out of the question and my forces will continue to advance on all fronts. If we make it to Kinshasa before the eight days then too bad," Mr Kabila said.
Many of the capital's residents believe the last chance to save it from assault has been lost.
There are few signs of a serious. attempt to defend the city, but residents fear the growing uncertainty could create anarchy ahead of the rebels arrival.
The capitals military governor appealed for people to remain calm as news of the talks failure and the threatened assault spread. Most of the city's streets were deserted.
The United States advised its citizens to leave Kinshasa immediately. Britain, France and the US have several thousand troops stationed in Brazzaville, across the Congo river, ready to evacuate foreigners.
Mr Kabila was flying back to his stronghold of Lubumbashi yesterday after a brief stopover in Angola, an Angolan official said.
After the talks broke up, a visibly ailing Mr Mobutu was winched ashore in a cage because advanced prostate cancer left him unable to climb the gangway. It was not clear if he planned to return to Kinshasa.
. Over 100 refugees were crushed to death and suffocated in a train yesterday which had brought them from a refugee camp to Kisangani in Zaire for repatriation to Rwanda, the UN refugee agency said. The dead were discovered after the train arrived at an unloading area on one side of the Zaire river which divides Kisangani. Medical teams were preparing meanwhile to treat another 50 people injured in the incident.
