White House Seeks Broader Influence in Africa : Bush to Meet With Zaire’s President and South African Anti-Apartheid Leader

The Bush Administration, seeking to broaden U.S. influence in Africa, conferred Wednesday with Zaire’s authoritarian president, Mobutu Sese Seko, and Albertina Sisulu, an anti-apartheid leader in South Africa with close ties to the outlawed African National Congress--representatives of ideologies so divergent that supporters of one generally detest the other.

Mobutu met Secretary of State James A. Baker III, and Sisulu talked to Herman Cohen, assistant secretary for Africa. Both are also scheduled to meet with President Bush--Mobutu today and Sisulu on Friday. Sisulu also is to meet with Baker today.

Mobutu, a staunch anti-communist who took power in 1965 in his strategically located nation, is a longtime ally of the United States, despite stinging criticism in the State Department’s latest human rights report that cites his government for denying free speech, preventing most political activity and regularly using torture.

Negotiated Angola Truce

A frequent visitor to Washington in previous administrations, Mobutu came this time just a week after scoring what may be the crowning achievement of his long tenure--the successful mediation of a cease-fire agreement in the Angolan civil war between the Marxist government and U.S.-backed rebels led by Jonas Savimbi. He is the first African head of state to visit Washington since Bush’s inauguration.

With Mobutu, who was wearing his trademark leopard-skin hat, at his side, Baker hailed the Angola pact as “this rather outstanding diplomatic accomplishment.”

Sisulu is the wife of Walter Sisulu, a founder with Nelson R. Mandela of the African National Congress. Like Mandela, he is serving a life prison sentence in South Africa.

Albertina Sisulu said that her meeting with Bush will be “a breakthrough,” the first time an American President has met with anyone closely tied to the ANC. Washington has long considered the ANC to be too close ideologically to the Soviet Union.

Sisulu, 72, came to the United States in her capacity as co-president of the United Democratic Front, an anti-apartheid umbrella organization established in South Africa as a legal alternative to the outlawed ANC. She said that it was her first trip outside of South Africa because she had never been given a passport. The white-controlled government apparently lifted the travel ban in response to her invitation from the White House.

An Administration official characterized Bush’s impending meeting with Sisulu as part of an effort to broaden U.S. policy toward South Africa following the government-centered “constructive engagement” policy of the Ronald Reagan Administration.

“We are going to talk with as many representatives of as many different aspects of the South African political equation as possible to get their ideas about what is happening in South Africa, about what the future direction of that country should be,” the official said. “Mrs. Sisulu can speak with a great deal of authority about the hardships endured by (black) South Africans under the system of apartheid.”

Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz conferred with ANC President Oliver Tambo in Washington in January, 1987. That meeting was the first--and until this week, the only--high-level contact between the U.S. government and the anti-apartheid group, which the South African government accuses of terrorism. At the time of the Shultz-Tambo meeting, a State Department spokesman said Shultz “laid out our concerns about the degree of Soviet influence in the ANC” and its use of violence.

I. William Zartman, director of African Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, praised the Administration for attempting to solidify U.S. relations with the ANC and other anti-government groups.

“Some people have been spreading the rumor that the ANC is the Communist Party, which is false,” Zartman said. “That is how we lose contests. The ANC is the most important organization representing the majority in South Africa. It is important for us to be in touch.”

Mobutu’s visit produced a spate of protest demonstrations, mostly organized by the Rainbow Lobby, a New York-based group that describes itself as a supporter of free elections worldwide. The organization accuses Mobutu of human rights violations and of becoming one of the world’s richest men while leading one of the world’s poorest countries.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that Mobutu has recently taken steps to improve the country’s human rights performance, but violations continue.

CONTROVERSIAL VISITS Mobutu Sese Seko , president of Zaire, and Albertina Sisulu, an anti-apartheid leader in South Africa, are in Washington for talks .

Mobutu: Took power in 1965. A longtime U.S. ally, despite stinging criticism over human rights abuses. A frequent visitor to Washington as well as a staunch anti-Communist, Mobutu arrives less than a week after what may be his crowning achievement--the mediation of a cease-fire pact in the Angolan civil war.

Sisulu: Wife of Walter Sisulu, a founder with Nelson R. Mandela of the African National Congress. Called her meeting with Bush “a breakthrough,” the first time a U.S. President will meet with anyone closely tied to the ANC. Sisulu, 72, is co-president of the United Democratic Front, an anti-apartheid umbrella group.