U.S. Prepares for Possible Zaire Evacuation

The Clinton administration reportedly is sending “several hundred” U.S. troops to western Africa to prepare for a possible evacuation of about 650 U.S. citizens from Zaire and has asked dependents of U.S. Embassy personnel to leave the strife-torn Central African nation.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, Pentagon sources told the Associated Press that the U.S. forces had already begun their movement toward Africa as part of a “joint task force.” They said up to 250 U.S. military men and women were being moved into the region just north and west of Zaire.

The troops primarily are coming from an Army Airborne unit based in Italy. Forces from other services are included, as well as members of the U.S. Air Force Transportation Command, which is based in the United States, the sources said.

The State Department, meanwhile, issued a new warning to dependents of U.S. diplomatic staff in Zaire: “Due to the uncertain political and security situation and the potential for unrest throughout the country,” dependents were asked to leave the country through a voluntary evacuation program that has been in place for almost a week. The warning was not an order to evacuate.

Earlier Friday, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen had said that his department was monitoring the situation on an hour-by-hour basis and that a 30-member assessment team has been sent to determine what action might be necessary for an evacuation.

“We are in the preparatory stage to make sure that we can act if action is called for,” Cohen said. “We are following it very closely, and, as usual, we will take every measure possible to make sure that our citizens are safe.”

Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon said the 30-member assessment team is “scoping out a wide range of possible outcomes.” The survey team arrived in Africa on Wednesday and is based in Congo and Gabon, two countries to the west of Zaire.

Rebel forces have been fighting in Zaire since October 1996 in an attempt to overthrow ailing dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

The rebels, led by longtime Mobutu nemesis Laurent Kabila, now control most of the eastern part of Zaire, including Kisangani, Zaire’s third-largest city, which they captured last weekend.