Black Lawmakers Impatient With Clinton : Policy: Disappointment stems from the Administration’s seeming inattention to the problems of Africa and Caribbean island-nations.

In one of the oddest coalitions ever assembled in this town of strange alliances, the 38-member Congressional Black Caucus--Democrats all--joined 175 House Republicans recently to stall legislation intended to give President Clinton firmer control over the federal budget. For the Republicans, it was a partisan move; for the Black Caucus, it was a wake-up call.

The caucus chairman, Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), said the action was taken to dramatize black lawmakers’ disappointment with the Clinton Administration’s seeming inattention to the problems of Africa and the Caribbean and their anger at Clinton’s refusal to discuss the subject with them.

Specifically, the black leaders contend that Clinton has failed to change U.S. policies that smack of racism and has provided too little support for democracy in Africa and the islands of the Caribbean.

The situation is a potentially embarrassing one for the President, who has espoused a philosophy of racial equality and inclusiveness and who made changes in U.S. policy involving Haiti, one of the nations in question, a key campaign issue.

The concern is felt far beyond Congress. The American black community, a solid base of political support for Clinton in last year’s election, is demonstrating increasing disillusionment with the Administration over its failure so far to make substantial changes in the Cold War-era Africa policy it inherited from the George Bush Administration.

“It has been a lot of symbolism but no substance,” said Randall Robinson, executive director of TransAfrica, an African-American think tank. “He walked down Georgia Avenue (in a predominantly black section of Washington) but that’s about it.”

For its part, the Administration denies that it is ignoring foreign policy issues of importance to black Americans, insisting that foreign policy issues in general are simply a lower priority now than certain crucial domestic matters. And both sides acknowledge that the problem is less one of substantive disagreement than of priorities.

“All of the groups that have a special interest in foreign affairs will feel slighted,” a senior Administration official said.

Nonetheless, the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., newly elected executive director of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, has called on Secretary of State Warren Christopher to meet with black leaders to discuss their complaints. In the meantime, National Security Adviser Anthony Lake has agreed to a session with the black leaders.

“We have concerns about the Clinton Admnistration’s policy, or lack of policy, toward Africa and the Caribbean,” Chavis said. “We believe that this is an opportunity for the Clinton Administration to correct the past 12 years of bad policy toward Africa by the (Ronald) Reagan and (George) Bush Administrations.

“Certainly the President has a lot on his plate, but from an African-American perspective, considering the massive outpouring of votes that went to the Clinton ticket, there was high expectation that there would be a change in policy.”

Chavis, Robinson, Mfume and others were especially critical of Clinton’s failure to make significant changes in Bush’s policies toward Haiti, Angola and Zaire.

After criticizing Bush during the election campaign for forcibly returning Haitian boat people to the impoverished island, for instance, Clinton adopted essentially the same policy in an effort to stem the flow of Haitians seeking asylum in the United States. In practice, most potential refugees from predominantly black Haiti are turned back, while far larger percentages are accepted from predominantly white countries in Eastern Europe or from Cuba.

“Clinton said Bush’s policy was inhumane and cruel,” Robinson said. “Now he has embraced that policy. The Bush policy was a racist policy. It remains a racist policy under Clinton.”

Clinton has said that the policy of returning boat people to Haiti is intended to save lives by discouraging Haitians from putting to sea in leaky sail boats. He has said that his Administration has concentrated instead on efforts to restore democracy to Haiti and reinstate ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Officials are optimistic that Aristide ultimately will return to power. But the negotiations to achieve that end--which may be near a conclusion--have been long and often frustrating.

“If Clinton is successful in helping to restore Aristide, that will be a plus,” Chavis said. “We will be prepared to say, yes, Mr. President this was good. But in our mind Aristide could have been restored 30 or 60 days ago if the Administration had been more forceful in stating a policy on the Caribbean, including Haiti.”

On Angola, Robinson, Chavis and others criticized the Administration for refusing to recognize the government of Jose Eduardo dos Santos after it won what appeared to be a fair election over rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. During the Cold War, Washington backed Savimbi and the Soviet Union supported Dos Santos. But in recent years the Angolan government has embraced multiparty democracy and free market economics while Savimbi has taken up arms in an attempt to reverse the election results.

Chavis, who served as an outside observer of the Angolan election last fall, said there is no question that Dos Santos was the winner. He said it is time for the United States to recognize the election results.

A White House official said the United States has withheld its recognition of Dos Santos because the government is engaged in United Nations-sponsored peace talks with Savimbi.

“To come out at this point with a recognition that benefits one side over the other would not only alienate (Savimbi) but perhaps encourage the government to take a harder line,” the official said. “It is a matter of timing and this ain’t the right time.”

On Zaire, U.S. black leaders want the Administration to take tough measures to force Mobutu Sese Seko to surrender power in the impoverished--but mineral rich--central African nation. Mobutu was a Western ally during the Cold War but his three-decade-long dictatorship is now an embarrassment to his former supporters. Last August, Mobutu agreed to begin a transition to democracy but has not kept his word.

There is no real dispute between the Administration and its critics over the goal of ending Mobutu’s reign. But Robinson said the Administration is too timid in its approach.

“It is not enough for Mr. Clinton to simply ask him to step aside,” Robinson said. “He will never step aside. We have not moved together with our European allies to seize his assets and those of his family. The Zairian people are not responsible for Mobutu’s tyranny. We imposed him; they didn’t.”

The White House official said that Washington is already working with France and Belgium to pressure Mobutu to yield power to the provisional government.

“Together with the French and the Belgians we are going to be taking more steps to make it a bit more obvious,” the official said. “We are trying to find ways to make it more difficult for him and to let the Zairians get on with the job of creating a democracy.”