ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, December 18, 1996           TAG: 9612180035
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: KINSHASA, ZAIRE
SOURCE: Associated Press

TROUBLE CAME IN HIS ABSENCE LONGTIME ZAIRE PRESIDENT FINDS CONFLICT WAITING

With his country facing rebel advances and his government under fire, Zaire's cancer-stricken president came home Tuesday after a four-month absence and promised ``final victory'' for his decaying nation.

Hundreds of thousands of people lined streets and cheered wildly to welcome the 66-year-old Mobutu from two months in Switzerland, where he underwent surgery for prostate cancer, and another two months convalescing at his villa on the French Riviera.

Mobutu said he interrupted the recovery against his doctor's advice to tackle the crisis in eastern Zaire, where rebel fighters have seized control of key cities along the Rwandan and Burundian borders.

``With God's blessing and with the support of each of you, we are sure of final victory,'' he said in a speech on the veranda of his palace at Camp Tshatshi, which overlooks the Congo River and the squalid capital of 6 million people.

While Mobutu made no mention of a military counteroffensive against the rebels, he did lash out at ``enemies'' who took advantage of his illness ``to stab me in the back.''

In Nairobi, Kenya, African leaders holding a summit on the eastern Zaire crisis urged peace talks to end the conflict. But Zaire's boycott of the meeting and Mobutu's harsh words underscored his government's opposition to negotiating with the rebels.

Zairian soldiers, who earn the equivalent of $1 per month and suffer severe morale problems, have been easily run out of the eastern cities of Bukavu, Goma and Beni by rebel forces.

Despite his reputation as a corrupt despot who has robbed his country of its mineral wealth and enjoyed a life of luxury while most Zairians live in squalor, Mobutu has emerged as a linchpin in the central African crisis.

His country is a massive patchwork of more than 250 ethnic groups with an increasingly restive opposition, an economy in ruins, and hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighboring war zones on its doorstep.

``It is the myth of Mobutu - we're a country lost without him, and there is no alternative leader,'' said Kin-kiey Mulumba, a political science professor and publisher of the Kinshasa daily newspaper Le Soft.

The cult of personality surrounding Mobutu was evident in the crowds that lined roads from the airport to Camp Tshatshi waving yellowed photographs of the young Mobutu and placards calling him the country's ``savior.''

``Even if he is sick, even if he is weakened, his mere presence will energize the nation,'' said Bongombe Bohulu Ousmane, a National Assembly member.

LENGTH: Medium:   59 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire holds hands with
          his wife, Bobi Ladawa, at Kinshasa airport after his arrival 
          Tuesday. Mobutu has been in Europe for four months while receiving 
          cancer treatments. color.