PRESIDENT Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire stepped down after 32 years in power, his government said yesterday, hours after he fled Kinshasa, leaving the city seemingly on the verge of takeover by conquering rebel forces.
Mr Mobutu, who came to power in 1965 and presided over the ruin of his country, had decided to "stand aside" but had not formally handed over his title of head of state, an official communique said.
Earlier in the day, Mr Mobutu left his base in Kinshasa with a heavily armed escort for the airport. Sources close to him said he was headed for Gbadolite, his parents' native village, 200 km north of Kinshasa, where he has a luxurious home.
In Morocco, a diplomatic source said black Africa's longest-serving ruler might be heading there.
In the rebel stronghold of Lubumbashi, the rebel alliance of Mr Laurent Kabila, which now controls most of the vast country, called on what is left of the Zairean army in Kinshasa to "surrender unconditionally".
The rebel "foreign minister", Mr Bizima Karaha, told a press conference he was asking the army "to lay down their arms and surrender unconditionally".
The official communique issued in Kinshasa read: "The president has decided to stand aside in order not to appear as an obstacle to a negotiated settlement and to constitutional order.
"Marshal Mobutu has left it to his government to carry on running the political life of the nation."
The government statement that Mr Mobutu would step aside was issued shortly after Mr Kabila - whose forces are reportedly backed by Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and, Angola - returned to his power base in southern Zaire after holding talks in South Africa with President Nelson Mandela.
In Washington, the United States called yesterday for a "genuine democracy" in Zaire after Mobutu's departure. "The United States's position is clear," President Clinton said. "We want to see a transition to a genuine democracy."
Rebels plan to launch a world-wide operation to hunt down Mr Mobutu's assets, which reports put in the billions of dollars around a decade ago.