THE United States yesterday denied that it had been blocking the creation of an international force for eastern Zaire. According to the State Department spokesman, Mr Nicholas Burns, the US recognises that a force is needed but maintains it has not yet seen a coherent plan for assembling one.
Meanwhile, talks held by the UN envoy, Mr Raymond Chretien, with both the Rwandan and Zairean governments in recent days appear to have brought progress towards a coherent plan, although the mandate of any intervention force is still uncertain.
Zaire wants such a force to guarantee its territorial integrity and effectively end rebel control of a swathe of the east of the country. Both Zaire and Rwanda want it to ensure that refugees leave Zaire, rather than resettle in new camps.
France and other European states are pressing for urgent action to help the refugees. Yesterday the EU representatives, Minister of State for Development, Ms Joan Burton, and the EU Development Commissioner, Ms Emma Bonino, repeated their calls for immediate UN action.
In Addis Ababa the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) condemned world inaction and called for "an effective African participation" in any proposed international force.
The 17 member OAU committee dealing with conflict prevention condemned the UN Security Council for not having fully taken account of an African proposition made last Tuesday in Nairobi to set up a neutral force to intervene in strife torn Zaire.
Amid reports that the Security Council may meet again shortly to agree an immediate force thousands are now believed to be dying each day in eastern Zaire. US satellite photographs have shown streams of refugees along roads leading away from the Rwandan border.
Following a long telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of Zaire, Mr Kengo wa Dondo, the UN Secretary General, Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali, said he believes Zaire is ready to co operate with the UN to ease distribution of aid to the refugees.
President Sese Seko Mobutu of Zaire was also reported to be playing a central role in the political discussions. Mr Mobutu, who is convalescing in Nice, was said by a diplomat in Kigali to be "still the man who calls the shots".
The chief of the rebels who now control a strip of eastern Zaire, Mr Laurent Kabila, yesterday urged the international community to stop Hutu militias from launching attacks on Goma from the Mugunga refugee camp. Otherwise, he warned, the rebels might end their three week ceasefire and go into the camp, which shelters 400,000 refugees.
Rwandan radio reported yesterday that some of those refugees who tried to escape the militias to try to go back to Rwanda have been beaten up or shot dead by Hutu militiamen.
. In Zaire, civilians fleeing the Tutsi revolt in the east are starting to trickle into the town of Kisangani, hundreds of miles away, saying many more displaced Zaireans and Hutu refugees are on their way. A spokeswoman for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in the capital, Kinsbasa, that 60,000 displaced civilians were reported in the town of Lubutu on the road between Kisangani and the conflict zone.
. Zaire yesterday shut two Kinshasa campuses spearheading violent protests against the government's handling of the Tutsi rebellion. Shops, petrol stations and some businesses closed, fearing further trouble in the capital, witnesses said.
. The South African Deputy President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, said yesterday that a comprehensive solution was needed to end the crisis in Central Africa and that Pretoria was willing to play a significant diplomatic role as an "honest broker". Mr Mbeki also told a news conference in Rome that, in principle, South Africa would be willing to take part in a military force for the region if its refugee aid mandate was well defined by the United Nations.
. At least 13,000 refugees, mostly Zaireans, have fled from east Zaire into neighbouring Uganda and continue to arrive at the rate of 100 a day, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR said yesterday.