Troops Surround Zaire Leader’s Home
Troops loyal to Zaire’s dictator Mobutu Sese Seko backed down from a siege of the legislature Friday but later surrounded the home of the country’s interim leader.
The soldiers appeared to be trying to intimidate the interim government before a meeting Monday between the strongman and legislative leaders.
In other developments, Belgium said Friday it was preparing to seize Mobutu’s assets, and called on other countries to follow suit in a bid to force the Zaire strongman to end his 27-year dictatorship.
The interim leader, Archbishop Monsengwo Pasinya, said the soldiers’ siege of the People’s Palace in Kinshasa, where up to 800 legislators were held captive, was part of a plot to kill him. He said he was not among the hostages because he had been forewarned.
Troops pulled back from the People’s Palace after the United States, France and Belgium demanded a halt to the siege.
On Friday, however, 40 to 50 presidential troops surrounded Monsengwo’s house and fired in the air, reports said.
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