PRESIDENT Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire "is about to become a creature of history", the White House spokesman, Mr Michael McCurry, said yesterday.
Support for the President, he said, was "not sufficient to lead Zaire into the next chapter of its history".
Mr McCurry also welcomed the progress made in talks held in South Africa between representatives of the Zairean government and armed rebels.
The US supported a negotiated solution, he added, "to include interim transitional government arrangements leading ultimately to elections".
Asked about President Mobutu going into exile, Mr McCurry said only that "some arrangements for a transitional process" in Zaire were necessary.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that the US was pressing the Zairean President to resign and go into exile to end civil war and ease a transition. Mr McCurry said the authorities in Kinshasa were "well aware" of the US position, which had been voiced publicly by the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr George Moose.
In Pretoria, President Nelson Mandela yesterday urged envoys of Zaire's warring sides to pursue negotiations, which broke off on Tuesday after four days.
Mr Mandela, who met the Kinshasa government representative, Mr Gerard Kamanda wa Kamanda, and the rebel envoy, Mr Bizima Karaha, at his official residence, encouraged them to continue talks, the presidential spokesman, Mr Parks Mankahlana, said.
The Zairean government and rebel envoys adjourned negotiations on Tuesday, agreeing on the need for further talks and an eventual ceasefire, but stopping short of ending hostilities.
The UN envoy, Mr Mohamed Sahnoun, who also represents the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), said post talks "consultations" were continuing, but declined to elaborate.
A senior diplomat, who asked not to be named, said a MobutuKabila meeting could take place within "48 hours or a week", but the venue for the meetings would depend partly on the worsening health of Mr Mobutu, who underwent cancer treatment in France earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Rwanda's Defence Minister, Gen Paul Kagame, admitted for the first time yesterday that Zaire's neighbours are providing "support" for the rebels.
In an interview with Belgium's Le Soir newspaper, Gen Kagame hailed the rebels' advance as a good thing for the whole region and warned Belgium, France and the US that any intervention to prop up President Mobutu's tottering regime would be resisted.
"The change that is taking place today is positive. The people of Zaire needed change. So did the region."
Gen Kagame said "at least half" of Zaire's neighbours welcomed the advances made by the rebel alliance and dismissed concerns about Zaire's territorial integrity as a "false problem".
"You see the popular support for the alliance. Is that not proof that Zaireans themselves want change?"
Pressed specifically on Rwanda's direct involvement, Gen Kagame said he would be able to give a definitive reply a year from now.
"Then I will recount the full story. What is sure is that Rwanda was very concerned by the danger represented by military forces operating from refugee camps with the complicity of the Zairean authorities.
It was better for the countries of the region to get involved in seeking a solution to the crisis, the general said, than for the West to intervene.
He believed Belgium, France and the US had stationed troops in Brazzaville, the Congolese capital, just across the Zaire river from Kinshasa, purely in case they, had to evacuate their citizens. But he warned that any military action beyond this would be resisted.
"A potential intervention would only serve to create even more problems for Zaire and for the intervening countries. You must also know that the countries of the region would not tolerate such an action."
France, distancing itself from President Mobutu, said yesterday it was not taking sides in the conflict and it was up to the Zairean people to decide their fate.
"We are not supporting anyone. What we support is Zaire and the future of its people," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr Jacques Rummelhardt told a news briefing. "France does not recognise governments. It recognises states."
Mr Rummelhardt's statement was the strongest sign to date that France was keeping its distance from President Mobutu, who has, enjoyed Paris's support throughout most of his 32 year autocratic rule.