Nelson Mandela formally invited Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko Thursday to meet with rebel leader Laurent Kabila to discuss a peaceful transition of government.
Mobutu envoy Honore Ngbanda was delivering the invitation to Mobutu, whose government forces have taken a drubbing in a seven-month conflict, according to U.N. envoy Mohamed Sahnoon and South Africa's deputy foreign affairs minister."We are confident that the meeting will be held soon and will discuss transitional arrangements affecting all levels of government in the context of a peaceful and negotiated solution," Sahnoun said.
The U.N. envoy said Mobutu and Kabila "have agreed that there will be a meeting at the highest level" and called this a "remarkable achievement in view of the complexity of the issue."
Sahnoun said the purpose of a Kabila-Mobutu meeting would be to discuss transitional arrangements in Zaire but no date or location was announced.
Earlier Thursday, Mandela said he had spoken by phone with Mobutu three times since Saturday.
"I am confident that a peaceful solution will be achieved," the South African president told reporters, referring to both Kabila and Mobutu as "president."
His portrayal of Kabila was in sharp contrast to the rebel leader's comments hours earlier that his forces would be in the Zairian capital, Kinshasa, within three weeks.
The rebels, who began fighting in September, now control almost half of Zaire.