PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela of South Africa said last night that President Mobutu Sese Seko was studying South African proposals to end Zaire's civil war and had promised to respond to them by Monday. We are confident we are making progress," Mr Mandela told a news conference in Cape Town after two-and-a-half hours of talks with the Zairean rebel leader, Mr Laurent Kabila, who agreed to await Mr Mobutu's response. "Matters are going to plan," Mr Mandela said.
Meanwhile Zairean government soldiers were seen fleeing from the defensive front into the capital Kinshasa, as rebels closed on the city. A western diplomat reported seeing truckloads of troops coming in past the airport which lies in the rebels' line of advance.
On the day President Mobutu returned home after the breakdown of peace talks with Mr Kabila the mood in Kinshasa was tense. Workers left their jobs early and by mid-afternoon long lines of people waited by the roadside for buses which had stopped running hours earlier.
Better-off residents continued to flee across the Zaire River to the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, some of them with fridges and other household appliances.
Rebel tracts circulating in Kinshasa in recent days have advised inhabitants to stay at home and prepare for the city's liberation. According to the latest communique of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire, the rebel forces will reach Kinshasa by the weekend.
Reliable intelligence puts the position of the advancing forces at about 50 miles from Kinshasa airport. Zairean peasants in outlying villages were yesterday reported to be fleeing the rebel offensive. Groups of shuffling and bedraggled Zairean soldiers could be seen traipsing through the capital's streets under escort.
The soldiers, who arrived from upriver in the early hours of yesterday morning, had deserted their posts in the interior. They were disarmed shortly after their arrival to stop them looting. Many of the deserters were accompanied by family members and were pushing handcarts carrying their belongings.
The city's port was yesterday closed following the rebel capture two days ago of Mbandaka, the last major town on the River Zaire before Kinshasa. With more than three-quarters of the country now in rebel hands, there is no more commercial traffic on the river.
Diplomatic and church sources report rebel killings around Mbandaka of Rwandan refugees who have arrived on the Congolese border after trekking more than 1,000 miles from eastern Zaire.
Mr Mobutu returned home from Congo, leaving a delegation in the Congolese port of Pointe Noire to continue discussions with the South African vice-President, Mr Thabo Mbeki.
Mr Mobutu and Mr Kabila had been due to meet for talks aboard the ship on Wednesday but the rebel leader failed to turn up. With rebel forces so close to Kinshasa, time is running out for a diplomatic solution. However, with the downfall of the cancer-stricken Mr Mobutu now a certainty, there is still hope that bloodshed in the capital can be averted. The South African mediation effort is concentrated on persuading Mr Mobutu to stand aside quietly and on convincing the rebel leader to behave in a statesmanlike manner once his troops reach the city.
"The breakdown of the talks hasn't changed much," a western diplomat in Kinshasa told The Irish Times. "It's not really necessary for the two sides to meet face-to-face. Mobutu is really irrelevant to what's going on now. Kabila is the reality of the new Zaire."
Mr Kabila's absence from Wednesday's talks was ostensibly motivated by fears for his security. The South African mediators refused to accept his request that the ship on which the meeting was due to be held be moored in international waters. But diplomatic sources have told The Irish Times other issues were also at stake.
"The business between the warring sides could have been all settled in 20 minutes," he said. "But the Mobutu camp came up with this ridiculous eight-page memorandum about the transfer of power. Kabila is winning the war hands down and feels he shouldn't have to put up with this nonsense at this stage."
The two sides have significantly failed to agree on a mechanism whereby a transfer of power might bring to an end 32 years of Mobutu autocracy. Mr Kabila insists the President should hand over power unconditionally. South Africa and the United States have been leaning on Mr Mobutu to comply.