United States Foreign Relations Zaire

Ambassadors of the United States and 13 other countries meeting in Canada's capital gave approval Friday to a multinational humanitarian mission to aid refugees in eastern Zaire. "Now, the multinational force is formally constituted," said Paul Heinbecker, a Canadian foreign affairs official who chaired a meeting of the ambassadors.

The Clinton Administration, facing mounting pressure from Capitol Hill and American organizations focused on Africa, is considering seizure of the vast personal fortune of Zaire President Mobutu Sese Seko to force him to surrender power in the mineral-rich Central African nation.

President Bush will name Ambassador Melissa Foelsch Wells as ambassador to Zaire, the White House said Friday.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III will meet this weekend with foreign ministers of three African members of the U.N. Security Council to see if they would support a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko met Sunday with Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi and a senior U.S. envoy in southern France in his most serious bid yet to revive a peace accord to end Angola's 14-year civil war. Mobutu talked with Savimbi and Herman Cohen, assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Cohen played a key role in talks in Washington earlier this month when President Bush persuaded Savimbi to return to the conference table.