Mobutu Flees Zaire’s Capital Ahead of Rebels

KINSHASA, Zaire —  After more than three decades of ruthless and corrupt misrule, President Mobutu Sese Seko fled with members of his family and key aides early Friday, apparently relinquishing power before an expected takeover of this nervous capital by advancing rebel soldiers.

Africa’s longest-serving despot was chauffeured from his palace shortly after dawn in a small car, rather than his usual stretch limousine, in a heavily guarded motorcade of about 10 vehicles, witnesses said.

The convoy raced through the deserted streets to the international airport, where Mobutu and his entourage took off about 9 a.m. in a Boeing 727. Trucks carried so much luggage that some had to be left on the tarmac.

State-run television said Mobutu, who is dying of prostate cancer, went to rest at his pink marble palace in Gbadolite, his ancestral village in northern Zaire. But Western diplomats said they expect him to head to Morocco soon and ultimately go into exile at his villa on the French Riviera, one of the many bolt-holes he has prepared abroad.

“He’s gone,” a Western ambassador said. “He’s not coming back. . . . It’s the end of an era.”

Asked why he was so sure, the envoy said: “It was either leave or get captured. There is nothing that’s going to happen here that would allow him to come back now or resume power. It’s unimaginable.”

Zaire’s military high command planned to meet late Friday night amid speculation that it will declare the capital an open city. That would effectively surrender Kinshasa without a fight to rebel leader Laurent Kabila’s guerrilla army, now poised to enter the city from the east.

“When does a place fall?” the envoy asked. “When the Zairian army leaves, or when the first rebels come in, or when they occupy the place in force? Whatever it is, they are a half-hour’s drive or two hours’ walk out of Kinshasa.”

The rebels appeared in no hurry to make the final push, however.

Several were seen Friday drinking beer in a roadside restaurant just outside the capital. Kabila may slow his advance now to give Mobutu’s inner circle time to follow their leader’s exit and reduce possible resistance in the city, analysts said.

There was no immediate response from Kabila, the enigmatic former Marxist bush fighter who emerged from obscurity last fall and claimed to an unbelieving world that he intended to march 1,200 miles to Kinshasa and topple Mobutu.

He was in his stronghold in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi on Friday and was expected to make a public statement today.

But representatives of his rebel forces held a news conference in Lubumbashi and denounced what is left of the Mobutu regime.

Rebel “foreign minister” Bizima Karaha said Mobutu’s cronies want a fight and will “be responsible for what might happen in the city.”

There was no fanfare in the streets of Lubumbashi.

Rebel officials have said they may move the capital there from Kinshasa once they take power.

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Mobutu’s sudden departure left a power vacuum and considerable uncertainty about the future of a nation as large as the United States east of the Mississippi and with a history marked by ethnic bloodletting and secessionist revolts.

There were conflicting reports about who, if anyone, is running the government.

Kin-Kiey Mulumba, the government spokesman, told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that Mobutu had delegated his once-absolute power to Roman Catholic Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo before slipping out of the city.

Monsengwo was elected speaker of the Parliament last week, making him the constitutional successor to Mobutu, but he has refused to accept the job. Kabila, in any case, has rejected Monsengwo’s role as a transitional leader, and the rebels do not recognize Zaire’s constitution.

“The president has ceased to play any role in the affairs of the country,” Kin-Kiey said.

But he insisted that Mobutu is still head of state because he has not formally resigned.

“He reigns, but he does not govern,” Kin-Kiey explained in a long and confusing statement.

Diplomats said Mobutu’s prime minister, Gen. Likulia Bolongo, is technically in charge. But they were relying on Gen. Marc Mahele Lieko Bokungu, the deputy prime minister, defense minister and army chief of staff, to ensure order and arrange what one envoy called “a slow takeover” by Kabila and his followers in the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire.

Mahele has assured diplomats that he will attempt to rein in his unruly and defeated army in an effort to prevent bloodshed or looting in the city before the rebels arrive.

“Everything hangs on Mahele,” a European ambassador said. “He is the central character now, the strongest, most respected and most responsible person in the leadership.”

In Washington, President Clinton called for a “genuine democracy” to replace Mobutu’s dictatorship, and U.S. officials said financial and other assistance was being studied to achieve that goal.

Clinton pledged to “do what we can to support Africa in taking one of the the largest and most important nations in Africa and promoting a democratic transition. That is what I think is important.”

News of the dictator’s sudden flight after 32 years of authoritarian rule sparked stunned disbelief, rather than jubilation or violence, in Kinshasa’s decrepit streets as anxious office workers and shopkeepers went home at midday to cluster by radios and await developments.

Many were fearful that Mobutu’s army would go on a rampage in a repeat of its deadly pillaging of the city in 1991 and 1993 after Mobutu stopped paying military salaries. Some residents rushed to build barricades and organize neighborhood defense leagues.

“We’ve dug holes to keep cars out,” said Jean-Jacques Kabanga, a 31-year-old economics student at the university here. “We put down nails and broken glass, and we blocked the entrances with old cars and pieces of metal. We have whistles, and some people even have weapons.”

Others vowed to seek revenge against those they blame for this country’s long-running misery.

“Someday they’re going to get what they deserve,” said Jeje Mukanya, a 33-year-old teaching assistant. “Some will be sent to prison. Some will be mutilated. All of them won’t be able to get away.”

But most simply seemed suspicious that Mobutu, a man who has survived by outwitting his enemies for years, might somehow return.

“We’re not sure he’s gone forever,” said Apocalypse Abasha, a 26-year-old student at the Academy of Fine Arts and Music here, a hotbed of anti-Mobutu sentiment. “Because he has the ways of the devil.”

Another student, Mbuyi Kalala, predicted that people will celebrate the end of Mobutu’s era only when Kabila arrives in Kinshasa.

“Everyone will be on the streets,” he declared. “We will welcome him as a liberator.”

Other residents said they had Kabila flags and T-shirts, as well as palm fronds, ready for a celebration.

Valentin Mubake, a leading opposition figure, said he will embrace Kabila when he comes.

“We’ve been working for this for years,” he said happily. “It’s magnificent.”

Most of Mobutu’s friends and cronies were caught off-guard as news spread that their patron, a fixture on Zaire’s landscape for so long, had finally gone.

“It took everyone by surprise,” said a foreign businessman who is close to Mobutu’s family.

Kithima Bin Ramazani, former secretary-general of Mobutu’s ruling party, also appeared in shock.

“What am I going to do?” he asked plaintively, surrounded by a retinue of aides and acolytes in a plush hotel lobby.

Then he answered himself. “I’ll go for a stroll on the streets,” he said with a shrug. “Why should I worry? If everything collapses, so be it.”

Mobutu’s flight came hours after his prime minister, defense minister and head of the special presidential guard pleaded with him to leave, warning that they could neither guarantee his safety nor defend the sprawling city of 5 million from a rebel attack.

“The generals came to Mobutu and said, ‘We can’t defend the city militarily. It’s time for you to go,’ ” said a diplomat with close ties to the Zairian military.

Expecting that Mobutu would agree to step down, the Information Ministry announced that an “emergency bulletin” would be broadcast on state-run television at 11 p.m. Thursday. But Mobutu refused to quit.

So a government spokesman instead appeared to announce the end of the rainy season and warn mothers to protect their children from insect bites. The statement, read twice, added to the air of unreality that has characterized the dying days and months of Mobutu’s regime.

Then shortly before midnight, Kin-Kiey appeared with another bulletin.

He appealed for calm, saying reports that rebel troops were nearing the city’s airport were “rumors” spread by “political parties who don’t hide their sympathy for the rebels.”

Times staff writer Ann Simmons in Lubumbashi contributed to this report.