Prime Minister of Zaire Is Ousted by Parliament

Zaire’s embattled prime minister was ousted from power Tuesday, deepening the political crisis brought on by the fast-spreading civil war in sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest country.

Leon Kengo wa Dondo was toppled by a vote of Parliament in the capital, Kinshasa, shortly after he flew here to meet African leaders to discuss the insurrection that has swept eastern Zaire and threatens to engulf the giant country.

No replacement for Kengo was named immediately, and a bitter power struggle appeared likely. Initial speculation focused on Etienne Tshisekedi, a former prime minister and opposition leader who is popular with students and is believed willing to negotiate with the rebel alliance led by revolutionary Laurent Kabila.

There was no immediate public reaction in Kinshasa. The capital has been tense all week amid rumors of an impending military coup or rioting by disgruntled soldiers. Flights and ferries from the capital reportedly were packed as nervous residents fled the country.

Zaire’s ruler, Mobutu Sese Seko, was hospitalized Sunday in Monaco for complications resulting from prostate cancer. He has spent most of the last seven months in Europe, and his power has steadily evaporated as Zairians in conquered cities and towns have joyously welcomed Kabila and his rebel forces as liberators from the misrule and corruption that have marked the despot’s 32-year reign.

Hard-line military officers blamed Kengo for the army’s dismal showing in the war, including the humiliating loss Saturday of Kisangani, the country’s third-largest city, as well as of mining areas rich in gold and diamonds. Other observers, however, blame the graft that has funneled defense funds into generals’ pockets.

Kengo had pledged to defend Kisangani at all costs. But as they have done repeatedly since the conflict erupted, ill-disciplined and demoralized soldiers looted the Zaire River port and then fled without fighting as the rebels approached.

Kabila has declared a weeklong cease-fire around Kisangani and invited humanitarian agencies to return to assist tens of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees gathered south of the city. Kabila has insisted he will accept a cease-fire in the wider war, however, only if Mobutu resigns.

Earlier Tuesday, government soldiers looted parts of Mbuji-Mayi, the center of the country’s huge diamond industry, according to wire service reports. The rampage reportedly erupted after Kabila announced that his forces were headed toward the provincial capital, about 600 miles southeast of Kinshasa, as their next target.

Kengo was elected prime minister by the transitional Parliament in 1994 after Mobutu had chosen him for the job to end political gridlock in a much-delayed transition to democracy. The Parliament has shown little independence from Mobutu in the past, and the nearly unanimous vote Tuesday suggested an attempt by the president’s followers to let Kengo take the blame for the military debacle.

Kengo had strong support from the Clinton administration, which backed his largely unsuccessful efforts to enact economic and political reforms.

But Kengo was deeply unpopular in Zaire. His mother was an ethnic Tutsi from neighboring Rwanda, and the government has repeatedly accused Rwanda’s Tutsi-led government of invading Zaire in the guise of local rebels. Rwanda has denied the charge.

Shortly after he arrived in Nairobi but before news of his ouster arrived, Kengo told reporters that he believed in democratic change. “Power should be taken through votes and not by violence,” he said.