DIEHARD soldiers in Zaire's collapsing army said yesterday they had driven back a rebel advance south-west of the country's second city, Lubumbashi.
The city was peaceful during the day. Residents reported explosions overnight on approaches to Lubumbashi, the capital of southern Shaba province and the next declared target of Mr Laurent-Desire Kabila's rebels.
In South Africa, the civil war foes adjourned four days of talks after agreeing on the need for a ceasefire to bring about a peaceful political solution. South African representatives said they needed to consult their leaders.
But Mr Kabila told a rally in Mbuji-Mayi that "elements" of his forces were moving closer to the capital, Kinshasa, and had reached Bandundu, a town only 170 miles away. He did not say the town had fallen.
Mbuji-Mayi, Zaire's diamond capital located 590 miles southeast of Kinshasa, fell to the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL) last Friday.
In an attempt to dent support for the new, Mobutu-backed Prime Minister, Mr Etienne Tshisekedi, Mr Kabila told 35,900 people at the rally that opposition political parties had allowed the ailing President Mobutu Sese Seko to remain in control.
"The real problem with Tshisekedi is that Mobutu is always in the background, manoeuvring to divide the opposition and remain always in control," said Mr Kabila, for whom Kasai is a key test of rebel support.
Mr Tshisekedi, as Zaire's new Prime Minister, last week offered the rebels six ministries in his government but was rebuffed.
Guerrillas trying to end President Mobutu's 32-year rule have met little resistance since launching their armed campaign from Zaire's eastern borderlands six months ago.
But in the copper city of Lubumbashi, an officer from President Mobutu's special presidential guard (DSP), the only part of the army which seems ready to put up a fight, said: "We have repulsed the enemy".
In Kinshasa defence ministry sources said the DSP had been sent to push back rebels from Kipushi, on the Zambian border, reported to have fallen to rebels earlier.
It was not immediately clear if the heavy gunfire overnight was linked to the DSP's intervention.
The DSP has more weapons and is generally better disciplined than the rest of Zaire's ragged army, which has mainly distinguished itself in looting during the civil war.
Its defined role is to protect Mr Mobutu and vital national interests. As such it has been concentrated in northern Gbadolite where Mr Mobutu has a preferred jungle palace, and in Shaba Province, which produces copper wealth.
Lubumbashi is the capital of Zaire's copper and cobalt mining industry, which has financially underpinned Mr Mobutu's hold on the vast Central African country.
The spreading civil war in Africa's third-largest country has raised human rights concerns at the United Nations, which is also trying to organise an airlift for tens of thousands of refugees caught in the conflict.
In Geneva, a UN human rights investigator, Mr Roberto Garreton, has accused the Tutsi-dominated rebels in eastern Zaire of killing thousands of civilians and Rwandan Hutu refugees. He called for a UN commission of inquiry.
In Pretoria, the civil war foes issued a joint statement saying they "agreed on negotiations to bring about a peaceful, political solution to the conflict", which began in October.