ZAIRIAN REBEL LEADER STALLS ATTACK ON CAMP.

Byline: Associated Press 

Rebel leader Laurent Kabila, responding to a plea from the United Nations, agreed Sunday to delay a threatened attack on Zaire's largest refugee camp.

Kabila had threatened to attack the Tingi-Tingi camp, which is on the rebels' northern front, this week unless the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees drove out Rwandans he says are armed by the Zairian government.

The rebel leader said he granted the reprieve to give the agency time to figure out how to separate the armed men from bona fide refugees in the camp of 150,000 people.

``As we are Christians, we shall give more time to UNHCR,'' Kabila told the Associated Press in the southeastern town of Kalemie. ``We shall see what we come up with.''

Kabila didn't set a new deadline, but said he would stay in touch with U.N. officials.

Twice in the past week, Kabila has vowed to attack Tingi-Tingi within days to clear out former Rwandan soldiers and Hutu militiamen, who have received planeloads of arms in recent days.

The United Nations sent representatives to Kalemie, a port on Lake Tanganyika, to plead for a reprieve. Kabila granted it, but insisted it would be temporary.

``We talked a little bit of my ultimatum there, which is very serious. I hope they understood my position,'' he said.

The U.N. representatives quickly flew back to Nairobi, Kenya, without speaking to reporters. In the past, the refugee agency has said it does not have the power to disarm refugees.

In the Zairian capital, Kinshasa, Defense Ministry spokesman Leon Kalima denied that the government is arming the refugees. He said Zaire has only enough weapons and ammunition to provide for its own soldiers.

``It's well known that we have a problem with materiels,'' he said. ``How could we possibly be giving things to outside forces? We're trying to outfit our own men.''

On Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also charged that arms were being sent into Tingi-Tingi, though he did not directly accuse Zaire.