Opposition to Form New Government in Zaire

President Mobutu Sese Seko and opposition parties broke a stalemate Sunday on selection of a crisis government and agreed that opposition member Etienne Tshisekedi will form it.

The decision marked the first time that Mobutu, who has ruled the vast Central African country since 1965, has agreed to give up any power. Zaire has been torn in recent weeks by rioting and other unrest.

A joint statement issued after nine hours of talks said that Mobutu and his opponents agreed that the opposition would hold the key post of prime minister. Sources at the meeting said the post would not necessarily go to Tshisekedi.

In another move to halt Zaire’s slide into chaos, state radio said that Mobutu had fired the army chief of staff, Gen. Manzembe Mayibanga, and ordered him replaced by the head of military intelligence, Gen. Mahele Liyeko.

Mayibanga was replaced because of his failure to control the 35,000-strong armed forces, military sources said. Looting, led largely by soldiers, ravaged Zaire last week, and state radio said 117 people were killed in the unrest.

There was no confirmation from Tshisekedi that he had accepted the task of forming a crisis government. He left the meeting in Kinshasa’s Marble Palace looking grave and refused all comment to reporters.

But a senior adviser to the other key opposition figure, Nguza Karl-I-Bond, said Tshisekedi had accepted. There will be a meeting today to apportion government posts, the adviser said.

Mobutu, asked if the meeting had gone well, said, “I think so.”

Earlier, as Mobutu, 60, arrived for the meeting at Kinshasa’s Marble Palace, about 100 angry delegates from a national conference that is supposed to chart the path to democracy protested outside.

They were annoyed at being left out of the government talks and said the 3,000-member national conference, due to meet Tuesday, should instead be responsible.

Only the major opposition parties were involved in talks on forming a new government. Almost all the leaders of those parties have served under Mobutu at one time and are united only in their hatred of him.

It is not yet clear what role Mobutu’s political party, the MPR, will play in any new power structure or whether the president will be forced to cede control of key portfolios such as defense and foreign affairs that have been his preserve since he took power.