IN a bold gesture towards peace, Zaire's new Prime Minister, Mr Etienne Tshisekedi, yesterday praised the rebels who have seized a quarter of the country for acting in the nation's interest, and offered them six key ministries.
Meanwhile, a US helicopter assault ship arrived in waters off Zaire with more than 1,800 Marines who will be used if an evacuation is ordered.
"This is an evacuation force," a Pentagon spokesman, Mr Kenneth Bacon, said. "It's not there for any other reason." He said no request had been made for an evacuation and Washington hoped peace talks would begin in the next couple of days. The USS Nassau was approximately 350. km west of Zaire, he added.
The rebels, led by Mr Laurent Desire Kabila, yesterday rejected the new prime minister's offer of places in the government, vowing to bring down the government.
A rebel spokesman said they would not enter a government backed by President Mobutu Sese Seko. "We want Mobutu out. Tshisekedi and his government are part of Mobutu's administration."
At his first press conference since being appointed prime minister on Wednesday, Mr Tshisekedi said the rebels deserved "the congratulations of our people and our gratitude".
He said Mr Kabila had acted in line with an article of the constitution giving Zaireans the right to "defend the nation and its territorial integrity and to parry any individual or group of individuals who take power by force or exercise it in violation" of the constitution.
Mr Tshisekedi, who replaced the unpopular Mr Kengo wa Dondo, said he felt Mr Mobutu had acted illegally in the past, specifically in firing him as prime minister after an army mutiny in 1993.
Mr Tshisekedi said he had sent a delegation to Mr Kabila to offer the rebels the ministries of foreign affairs, defence, planning, budget, foreign trade and agriculture, one quarter of his cabinet. He said he had not yet received a response.
Mr Mobutu has sent a special envoy to talks starting in two days time in South Africa. But Mr Tshisekedi said he did not see the need for the talks. "Kabila is my brother. I do not need any intermediary to meet him".
In the rebel-held eastern city of Goma a senior rebel official, Mr Gaetan Kakudji, warned: "If Tshisekedi wants to steer a wrecked ship, he must learn to swim because it is going to sink."