Mandela Criticizes U.S. Aid to Rebels in Angola : Tour: The black liberation leader meets with President Bush today. He will address a capital rally Tuesday.

Nelson Mandela pointedly criticized U.S. aid to guerrillas battling the Marxist government in Angola on Sunday, the day before he is scheduled to meet with President Bush.

After big rallies in New York and Boston, Mandela flew to the nation’s capital Sunday where he met with reporters and editors from black-owned media outlets. During a question-and-answer session, Mandela said the United States should not be providing assistance to guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi.

“The United States and South Africa are the main countries that support Savimbi,” he said. “We strongly condemn that . . . because the established governments of independent countries should respect the political sovereignty and territorial integrity of Angola.”

Mandela said he had not broached the subject of Angola with South Africa’s white government and he refused to divulge what he is going to tell Bush about the subject.

Nevertheless, Mandela was explicit in saying “no assistance” should be given Savimbi’s rebels, who have waged war for nearly 20 years against the Soviet and Cuban-backed Angolan government.

In brief remarks at Washington’s National Airport, Mandela said he will urge Congress on Tuesday and a reluctant President Bush today to not only maintain but intensify U.S. economic sanctions against the South African government.

“I come here to put the message that sanctions must be intensified and to ask for resources to address the problems facing our country today,” he said.

He added: “We have been greatly encouraged by the rousing reception which the American people in New York and Boston have given us. They have left us with the distinct impression that in this country we have brothers and sisters who are deeply committed to the fight against racial oppression in our country . . . . “

In addition to his White House visit and an address to a joint session of Congress, Mandela will meet with Secretary of State James A. Baker III today and attend a sold-out rally Tuesday night at the Washington Convention Center before heading to Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles and Oakland.

In New York, where Mandela’s visit began last week, the 71-year-old deputy president of the African National Congress was greeted by hundreds of thousands of people during a ticker-tape parade up Manhattan’s Broadway and rallies at City Hall, in the heart of Harlem and at Yankee Stadium. In Boston, a quarter-million people lined the city’s esplanade to greet him.

Mandela, his wife, Winnie, and about a dozen aides arrived in a chartered Trump Shuttle 727, the same aircraft that took them on Saturday from New York to Boston.

Under sunny skies, Mandela was greeted by Effi Barry, the wife of Washington Mayor Marion Barry, and by D.C. House Delegate Walter E. Fauntroy, who called Mandela “Your Excellency.” Mayor Barry, who is on trial on drug charges, was not present.

A crowd that included South African exiles danced the toyi-toyi as Mandela was presented with a scarf in the black, green and gold colors of the ANC.

The Mandela delegation then was driven in a motorcade across the Potomac River, past the Lincoln Memorial and to the Madison Hotel downtown.

Shortly afterward, Mrs. Mandela attended a service at the nearby Metropolitan AME Church while her husband met at the hotel with South African exiles and members of the ANC now living in the United States.

One of the few public appearances planned for the Washington leg, the church ceremony was an emotional one. Among those who spoke was Molly Yard, head of the National Organization for Women, and Effi Barry, who, with tears streaming down her cheeks, told Mrs. Mandela: “Your fight is our fight.”

Also on Sunday, a Democratic senator criticized Nelson Mandela for speaking favorably of Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, characterizing Mandela’s comments as “disappointing.”

“We have to expect more of Mr. Mandela now,” said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), referring to the South African’s description of Arafat as a “comrade in arms” and his statement of support for Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi and Cuban President Fidel Castro.

“I think that many of us understand that Mr. Mandela was in prison for 27 years. He views Kadafi, Arafat and Castro as people who were comrades in arms, but he’s at a different stage of his career now,” Lieberman said in a televised interview. “He’s a world leader--he may well be the leader of a nation.”

Staff writers Scott Kraft and Don Shannon contributed to this story.