Zaire's rebels said Sunday they were resuming their march on the capital Kinshasa, abandoning a pledge to South African President Nelson Mandela to halt their advance to give diplomacy a chance.

Rebel leader Laurent Kabila's "foreign minister" Bizima Karaha told a news conference that the rebels were abandoning a pledge to Mandela at the first face-to-face meeting on May 4 not to advance on the capital."We are now advancing and will continue to advance. We shall now talk and fight, and fight and talk," he said, accusing President Sese Seko Mobutu of using the talks to buy time to strengthen his Kinshasa defenses.

Mobutu, 66, who is fighting prostate cancer and the rebel advance, has dominated the mineral-rich country at the heart of Africa for over three decades. He returned to Kinshasa Saturday after talks in Gabon with fellow Central African leaders and Mandela's deputy president, Tha-bo Mbeki.

The rebels, who took up arms in October and control three quarters of Africa's third-largest country, insist that Mobutu step down immediately and hand power to Kabila.

The rebels were last reported less than 125 miles from the teeming capital of five million.

Mbeki said Mobutu and Kabila had agreed to attend fresh talks Wednesday. The first such meeting, on May 4, ended with Mobu-tu offering to hand power to an elected successor and Kabila demanding he stand down immediately

On the humanitarian front, an aid mission to a rebel-held area of eastern Zaire said Sunday it had discovered thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees, many on the verge of death.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.