Dictator's location remains a mystery

The whereabouts of ex-President Mobutu Sese Seko remained a mystery yesterday. An official in Rabat told Reuters that he was in Morocco at a luxury hotel south of the capital. Other reports said he would leave for Lichtenstein, before heading for France after the forthcoming French election.

However, a friend of Mobutu's family said that Mobutu was still in Gbadolite in Congo-Zaire, at one of his palaces; and the tiny principality of Lichtenstein denied that Mobutu was heading their way.

A rebel spokesman in France said Mobutu and his clan would be pursued. "With us, he will never be in peace. Wherever he goes, we will find him," Zamba Afri Kounyen told radio France-Info. "We regard them as criminals who must be detained and taken to trial by a people's court."

Meanwhile, representatives of the international community yesterday sought guarantees from Laurent Kabila on a transition to democracy, and on the welfare of refugees. South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki told reporters at Lubumbashi airport yesterday that it seemed clear to South Africa that the process of transition agreed upon by Kabila and ousted president Mobutu Sese Seko was on course.

Earlier, Kabila and his Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo told UN special envoy Mohamed Sahnoun they would cooperate with UN and other agencies dealing with the refugee crisis. Mr Kabila sent a delegation to Kinshasa to reassure the people about security, but officials would not say when Kabila himself would visit Kinshasa.