ZAIRE'S ailing and embattled President Mobutu Sese Seko left France for home yesterday to try to salvage what remains of his crumbling authority.
But Mr Laurent Kabila's rebels, who have been fighting to topple Mr Mobutu since October, rejected a truce then talks call from the veteran leader.
"We negotiate first," Mr Kabila told reporters on arrival in Zaire's third city of Kisangani, which fell to the rebels six days ago.
"He [Mr Mobutu] always wants to buy time. But we will not play his game," said the rebel political commissioner, Mr Deo Bugera.
Mr Mobutu (66) who left hospital in Monaco on Wednesday after fresh cancer treatment, issued a statement on Thursday calling for a truce and a national council to find a peace settlement. He left Nice airport on a private jet yesterday morning. Many Zaireans, eager for a change from three decades of poverty and hardship under Mr Mobutu, are rallying to Mr Kabila. Residents of Kinshasa's poor districts openly welcome the prospect of his arrival.
Mr Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo Zaire (ADFL) is advancing relentlessly across the sprawling and chaotic Central African nation, where central government control has long been notional.
Under intense foreign pressure to agree a truce and talk, Mr Kabila says only face to face talks with Mr Mobutu can halt the fighting.
President Mobutu's son, Nzanga, said on Thursday that his father no longer ruled out talks with rebel leaders but wanted to involve the government, army and transitional parliament. "His intention is to find a solution to the present crisis in consultation with parliament, the government and the military high command," he said. Since prostate cancer surgery in August, Mr Mobutu has spent most of his time in Europe.
France and the United States - have, meanwhile, made contingency plans to evacuate their nationals from Zaire. Several hundred US troops were ordered to west Africa yesterday to support an evacuation of Americans from Zaire should it become necessary, the Pentagon said. France has already sent troops and planes to nearby Gabon and Congo.
The UN refugee agency yesterday quoted leaders of 60,000 Rwandan refugees as saying they were moving deeper into Zaire to flee advancing rebels, a shift which could put them out of reach of international aid.