KINSHASA, May 11: Diplomatic pressure has pushed Zaire's president Mobutu Sese Seko and rebel leader Laurent Kabila to agree on fresh talks and political manoeuvering intensified on both sides.

Mobutu returned to Kinshasa yesterday, where his supporters in Parliament filled the vacant post of Speaker a potential interim leader to whom Mobutu could give power, depriving Kabila of the clean handover he demands.

Kabila said he had agreed to meet Mobutu for talks, but ruled out calling off his military drive which has reached to less than 200 km from the teeming capital of five million.

``No one has officially asked me to stop my offensive. We shall continue,'' Kabila said in a television interview.

South Africa's deputy president Thabo Mbeki said the two would meet face-to-face on board a South African ship. A first ship-borne meeting between the two, hosted by South Africa's Nelson Mandela, ended inconclusively a week ago.

A constitutional successor for Mobutu emerged from Zaire's Parliament, where lawmakers voted Roman Catholic Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo into the key post of Speaker -- who takes over in the event of Mobutu's death or incapacity.

``He is not an alternative to either President Mobutu Orkabila,'' Christophe Lutundula, second Deputy Speaker of Parliament said.

``We are hoping he will play a role as a national mediator and will persuade all sides to agree on a way of safeguarding the democratic process in Zaire.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.