Push, But No Shove

WESTERN POWERS ARE MOUNTING A NEW CAMPAIGN to unseat Mobutu Sese Seko, Zaire’s mercurial dictator for 27 years. In the wake of bloody unrest that killed at least 1,000 people, the U.S., Belgium and France presented a demarche in Kinshasa, demanding that the President abide by an earlier commitment to transfer power to a transitional government headed by Etienne Tshisekedi. But Mobutu rejected the ultimatum, and its authors evidently plan to back it up through new economic pressure rather than by force. Despite an open plea by Tshisekedi for military intervention, about 700 French and Belgian troops sent to evacuate non-Zairians have begun to withdraw.