FEARS are growing that the Zairean capital, Kinshasa, could become a killing ground in the days leading bp to its capture by rebel forces.
The fall of Kinshasa seemed all the more likely yesterday with the failure of peace talks between President Mobutu Sese Seko and the rebel leader, Mr Laurent Kabila.
The UN special envoy to Zaire, Mr Mohamed Sahnoun, announced last night that the talks would not go ahead, saying the South African president, Mr Nelson Mandela, had rejected Mr Kabila's request that the ship Outeniqua, on which the talks were to have taken place, put out from Pointe Noire in Congo to the high seas.
Mr Kabila had delayed the talks, which were supposed to take place yesterday, for several hours before they were first postponed and then cancelled completely.
However, Mr Kabila was reported last night to be willing to fly to South Africa today for a meeting with Mr Mandela, an official on board the Outeniqua said. Mr Frank Chikane, director general in the office of the South African deputy president, Mr Thabo Mbeki, said efforts to arrange peace talks between Mr Mobutu and Mr Kabila were continuing but on a "two crack approach".
Mr Kabila, he said, had agreed to go to South Africa today for talks with Mr Mandela, probably in Cape Town. Mr Mbeki, meanwhile, was to stay in Pointe Noire to have further meetings with Mr Mobutu.
Meanwhile, secret documents shown to The Irish Times name individuals and installations to be targeted in the lead up to the capture of Kinshasa, now considered imminent. Among those marked for execution are members of the cabinet of the recently ousted prime minister, Mr Kengo wa Dondo, now in exile in Europe.
Also on the list for destruction are government buildings, power and water installations, the US ambassador's residence and the British embassy.
After an announcement on Tuesday by the United States State Department that all American nationals should leave Kinshasa, the British Foreign Office has reissued its advice to British citizens to go. A British embassy spokesman said he believed the few Irish residents in the city had already left.
Western diplomats are taking seriously warnings from the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo Zaire that foreigners would be in the firing line. The rebels have warned there could be widespread bloodletting by the embattled Zairean Armed Forces which have been driven back towards Kinshasa.
The fear in Kinshasa is that the Zairean military might attack foreigners to provoke international intervention. Unless there is a last minute diplomatic solution to the crisis, nothing short of outside intervention is likely to save the crumbling Mobutu regime.
The cancer stricken president has relied on foreign help in the past to stay in power, but now he has few friends and even France a traditional ally, shows no appetite for military involvement.
"The attacks wouldn't necessarily be rational," one western diplomat said. "One can imagine various scenarios where foreigners might be targets for bitter and angry people."
The regime is particularly critical of the US which it accuses of having sided with Mr Kabila in the civil war. Along with South Africa, it has been at the forefront of diplomatic efforts to persuade Mr Mobutu to relinquish his 32 year hold on power.
Also fearful of retribution are former government ministers and opposition politicians. One document, obtained by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and shown to The Irish Times, gives the coded names of prominent political figures to be executed before any rebel occupation of the city.
Though it cannot be authenticated, the document appears to be signed by a high ranking military authority and bears the stamp of the elite Special Presidential Division (DSP) of the army.
The list is headed: "Individuals to be brought back dead or alive in case of flight and places designated for destruction." For security reasons, the names of listed individuals cannot be given here.
Installations named include the president's palace, the parliament building, the national bank, the airport control tower, the finance ministry, the water and electricity companies, the US ambassador's residence and the British embassy.
British forces, stationed across the Zaire River in the Congolese capital of Brazzaville, are on standby to evacuate some 1,700 British citizens and so called entitled persons.
Another signed document bearing the DSP stamp gives the names of half a dozen members of the Kengo wa Dondo cabinet, widely blamed by the army for its successive defeats at the hands of the rebels. All six are marked for execution.
Sources close to Mr Mobutu say that the Zairean army chief of staff, Gen Mahele Bokungu, and the newly installed prime minister, Mr Likulia Bolongo, suspected by the DSP of having negotiated with the rebels behind the president's back, may also be targeted.