Zaire Hangs by a Thread

Zaire is at a turning point, seized by an escalating internal war that might overthrow the dictatorial regime of Mobutu Sese Seko but leave Africa’s second-largest nation lawless and adrift. Only strong international pressure from Africa and the West can effect a cease-fire, and that is a longshot.

A regional summit is scheduled to open Wednesday in Nairobi, Kenya, but it will begin in the shadow of failure--the recent attempt by South Africa to get the two sides talking. That initiative collapsed when rebel leader Laurent Kabila insisted on face-to-face talks with Mobutu, who remains in Monaco, under medical care for prostate cancer. Mobutu’s son says the Zairian president hopes for a political solution in the Nairobi talks or a later session in the West African country of Togo. However, there seems little cause for optimism.

The secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has called for international peacekeepers but no takers have stepped forward. Washington urged a cease-fire again Monday; there was no immediate response.

Meanwhile, anti-government forces continue to press westward from their strongholds in eastern Zaire. Fear grips the capital city of Kinshasa. The nation’s army is in disarray, and the rebel forces, which captured the important river port of Kisangani over the weekend, are gaining supporters as they press their attacks. What began as a rebellion among ethnic Tutsis has now swept up everyone with a cause against Kinshasa, and there are many.

The 66-year-old Mobutu can blame only himself for this disaster. He has bled his country, stuffing his overseas bank accounts with an estimated $5 billion mined from its vast natural riches. The generosity of the United States, eager for African loyalists during the Cold War struggles in Africa, also helped fill the presidential pockets.

Now the Mobutu era appears to be coming to an agonizing end. Those who will pay most dearly are the Zairians, who got little but pain from their government anyway.