Zaire Government Officials

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.

It is a tale of two cities, but it speaks volumes about the dying days of Africa's longest-surviving dictatorship. President Mobutu Sese Seko flew home to this crumbling capital Friday from cancer treatment in Europe. But after his jet landed, security agents ordered Cabinet ministers, military commanders, an honor guard and reporters from the airport so no one could see the ailing ruler climb--or be carried--down the stairs.

Fresh flowers fill crystal vases. Recessed lights shine on rich rugs and marble floors. Silk pillows hug leather couches. Beethoven plays softly from speakers hidden in the walls. The plush hilltop villa, and the shiny Jaguar parked outside, belong to one of Zaire's most powerful men. He is a Cabinet minister, a former ambassador and a key member of ailing President Mobutu Sese Seko's tottering regime.

Prime Minister Leon Kengo wa Dondo resigned Monday, bowing to pressure from lawmakers who blamed him for mishandling an insurgency by rebels who now control nearly a quarter of the country. Kengo's departure came a day after his mentor, President Mobutu Sese Seko, emerged from seclusion, promising to make clear "within 48 hours" his plans to reunite the country. Parliament had voted last week to oust Kengo, accusing him of being soft on the insurgents.

President Mobutu Sese Seko formally approved the appointment of archrival Etienne Tshisekedi as prime minister. State radio announced the appointment as the United Nations refugee agency started repatriating 3,000 Rwandan Hutus from Zaire, and a U.N. investigator, after a three-day probe, accused rebels of massacring Hutus last year. Lawmakers had nominated Tshisekedi to head the government and steer Zaire through negotiations with rebel chief Laurent Kabila.

The Clinton administration has been pressing President Mobutu Sese Seko, a U.S. ally for 25 years, to resign and go into exile to help his nation achieve a settlement to civil war, according to a senior administration official. Although the administration has stopped short of publicly urging Mobutu to step down, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs George E. Moose called Mobutu's regime "bankrupt" and "a thing of the past."

The United States on Wednesday called for order and concrete steps toward democracy in Zaire, but the Clinton administration's entreaties went unheeded as the large Central African country cascaded further into bloody chaos.

President Mobutu Sese Seko announced plans Tuesday to travel today to a summit of regional leaders in Gabon in what appeared to be the first step in an exit strategy before a threatened assault on this capital by rebel troops.

Two aging dictators began this year seeking to hold onto power in huge, mineral-rich Third World countries. One of them is thriving, the other is about to fall. The interesting question is: Why do the two men seem headed for such different fates? The dictators are Presidents Suharto of Indonesia and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire. Both men have ruled their nations for more than three decades, since the days of Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency.

Two weeks after chasing a hated dictator from power, guerrilla leader Laurent Kabila had himself sworn in as president here Thursday, telling a stadium filled with 30,000 cheering supporters that he would guide the nation to free elections in April 1999.