THE ZAIREAN rebel leader Mr Laurent-Desire Kabila, in control of Zaire's economic heartland, yesterday gave President Mobutu Sese Seko three days to start negotiations about his resignation, or face a fresh offensive on all fronts.
In Strasbourg, the European Parliament demanded the resignation of Mr Mobutu and his government, and the holding of democratic elections.
"(The European Parliament stresses) the need to find a peaceful political solution to the conflict in Zaire that will put an end to the regime of Mr Mobutu Sese Seko with a view to the introduction of a democratic system," the parliament said in a resolution.
The Foreign Minister of Belgium, Mr Erik Derycke, said in Brussels that Zaire was now in the hands of a military dictatorship. Belgium is the vast African country's former colonial power.
In Zaire's second city of Lubumbashi, a showdown loomed yesterday between rebels who seized the southern mining capital on Wednesday and Mobutu loyalists surrounded and trapped in the airport 6 km to the north-east.
The capital Kinshasa, rocked by protests between Mr Mobutu's army and supporters of his arch-foe and ousted prime minister, Mr Etienne Tshisekedi, on Wednesday, was initially calm.
I am waiting for a little period of three days for Mobutu to make a decision to contact us to negotiate his departure," Mr Kabila told a news conference at Mr Mobutu's former palace in the eastern town of Goma, now used as rebel headquarters. Mr Kabila said that he awaited "good news on the willingness of Mobutu to depart" ... and added that Mr Mobutu, who has ruled since seizing power in 1965, knew how to get in touch.
"If this doesn't happen we will be forced to advance on all fronts," he added.
The rebels, who took up arms in October in a dispute over Zairean nationality for ethnic Tutsis, now control about half of Zaire including the key diamond province of Kasai and most of the southern copper and cobalt mining province of Shaba.
The US, which helped prop up Mr Mobutu during the Cold War fearing the spread of Communism in strategic parts of Africa, says it is time for him to go. The State Department has urged an end to "dictatorship" in Zaire.
Mr Mobutu (66), declared a state of emergency on Tuesday and appointed Gen Likulia Bolongo as prime minister in place of Mr Tshisekedi on Wednesday in a move that had the hallmarks of a last bid to assert his authority. Gen Likulia, a former defence minister, went out of his way to rule out any thought of Mr Mobutu stepping down and said his government would crack down on lawbreakers and attempt to restore order and unity.
Wednesday's capture of Lubumbashi, a city of one million people, presented the rebels with their biggest prize of the war.
The US and other Western allies have stationed about 1,000 troops in Brazzaville, the Congo capital across the River Zaire froim Kinshasa, to evacuate their nationals from Zaire in case of a breakdown of law and order.
Meanwhile in Goma, on Zaire's eastern border, aid workers said they had found 3,000 Hutu refugees in and near the Zairean town of Ubundu.
"There were 491 refugees in Ubundu in a very weakened state including 96 unaccompanied children. They were all in a very bad state. The priority now is to move them to the camps," Mr Paul Stromberg of the UNHCR said.
"They reported 141 people had died in Ubundu since March 19th until Tuesday. Residents said that the alliance (rebels) had walked into Ubundu without firing a shot on Sunday," he added.